New Beginnings
by timbuktu
Summary: Naru has revealed herself and has received training from two of the legendary sannin. After a near-failed expirement, she is armed with two powerful bloodlines. Powerful Rinnegan Sharingan Mokuton Naru
1. Chapter 1

Summary:

What if Naruto was a girl all his life? What if she was experimented on and imbued with the Shodaime Hokage and Uchiha Madara's DNA after EMS and rinnegan? What if she had her mother's bloodline?

Two young people were standing on two large opposing statues near a waterfall. The blonde, known as Konoha's most unpredictable ninja, was screaming at her team mate. The raven haired boy wonder stared impassively ate him and just got into a battle ready stance. The two leapt at each other and the ping of metal against metal was heard. They both landed on the water and the blonde rushed the other with a tearful scream. He was kicked back and fell under the water's surface. Uzumaki Naruto thought about everything that had happened and made a promise to himself. He pulled himself onto the water's surface and faced Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sasuke! I will bring you back, even if I have to break every bone in your body." Naruto shouted.

"Naruto, you are too weak. You would not understand my pain. My hate is what makes me strong enough to kill my brother. I will achieve my ambition even if I have to surrender my body to Orochimaru." Then suddenly Sasuke's eyes changed. A third tomoe shifted into each of his eyes. His sharingan was finally complete. He put his headband on and charged Naruto. He was winning until red chakra enveloped Naruto's body. He activated the curse seal but level one was not enough. The chakra around Naruto morphed to form a silhouette of a fox. Sasuke changed into a purple creature resembling a hawk with large hands for wings.

Naruto charged up a rasengan and Sasuke retaliated in this show of power buy preparing his chidori. Sasuke flapped his wings and was airborn while Naruto, filled with a portion of kyuubi's chakra, launched himself at him. The two attacks collided and they formed a sphere of condensed chakra, disrupting the flow of water from the waterfall.

When the attack ended, it began to rain. Naruto was on the other side unconscious. Sasuke dragged his feet to Naruto and felt the aftershock of pain from Naruto's attack and knelt near his forehead, looking down at him.

To his surprise, Naruto's features began to change and became slighter. His hair grew out until it surrounded his head until it looked like a messy and rater large crown. It still retained its golden sheen. The face became more feminine and two bumps could be seen through the soaked orange tracksuit top Naruto always wore. The body's proportions changed and made the legs longer.

Realizing he had spent a lot of gawking he ran up and over Uchiha Madara's statue head, not to be seen from for who knows how long.

Kakashi arrived with Pakkun. He gave the dog a questioning look and it just gave a slight shake of his head. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kakashi looked bewildered for a moment at his students appearance, not for the fact that he-now-she was a girl, but for the fact that the near-permanent Henge had dropped. He worried for her health and picked her up and ran quickly back to Konoha. The other rookie Genin were waiting anxiously at Konoha's massive gate. When they saw Kakashi carrying somebody, they became apprehensive as he neared them. They saw him carrying somebody who resembled Naruto. They threw him a questioning glance and all he would say was that they would have to wait for the Hokage to explain everything. They accompanied him to the hospital where the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade, was waiting at its doors. Tsunade ran a diagnostic jutsu on her and confirmed it was just a case of chakra exhaustion. They put her on an IV-drip laced with the properties of a chakra-restoring pill.

After a day, the rookie Genin were summoned to the Hokage's office. Sakura was silently shedding tears and all were looking emotionally down trodden.

Tsunade began, "The reason I have called you here is to tell you that the young female that Kakashi brought into Konoha is actually Naruto."

"NANI?" They all cried in unison.

"You must understand that she was not accepted in the village because of what she contains. Furthermore-"

"-But Hokage-sama, why would she have to hide?" asked Hinata who had already known of her blonde friends predicament?

"She holds the Kyuubi." This statement was met with many gasps and looks of horror. "She was put under the Henge because no one would attack the Jinchuuriki, but it being a girl, they might have become bolder." She said in a grave tone which all the kunoichi understood. "I implore you to see reason and not see her as the Kyuubi." Surprisingly they all nodded and exited her office looking slightly happier.

Naruto opened her eyes to see the white ceiling of the hospital. She sat up and realized that she had been changed into a hospital gown. She blushed at the thought of being naked, something which she hadn't been embarrassed about in a long time. After about ten minutes she got out of bed and was walking out when she noticed neatly folded clothes on the chair next to the door. They had a note attached to them.

**Naruto**

**We know how much you love that idiotic jumpsuit of yours, but we felt that there needed to be a change. Hope you like them.**

**Rookie nine Kunoichi**

She grumbled as she put them on. They were black shorts with an orange skirt, blue shinobi sandals, a fishnet undershirt and a black shirt with a red Uzumaki swirl on it. She shrugged and opened a window. First order of business, get a bowl of ramen. She jumped across the rooftops and landed outside Ichiraku Ramen. She walked in and sat down.

Ayame walked up to her and handed her a menu. "I've never seen you around. Are you new to these parts?"

"Ayame-neechan, it's me, Naruto." Ayame let out a loud exclamation.

"N-Na-Naruto? How is this possible?"

"The Sandaime Hokage put a Henge on me and I lived as a boy for most of my life. I'm really sorry for not telling you guys but he made me swear on my honour as a Konoha citizen that I would not say anything, and I never go back on my word. That's my nindo."

"I really didn't need such a long explanation. The Sandaime told us everything so we could watch over you." Naruto sweat dropped at that.

"Ayame-neechan. Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Why didn't you?" Ayame replied with a smirk. Naruto sighed and just ordered a large miso ramen with pork cutlets and other toppings. It was brought and she ate. As she was walking out, she bumped into Kiba.

"Sorry about that Kiba. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going." Kiba had a contemplative look on his face before it brightened.

"Oh Naruto, it's you. Sorry I didn't recognize you."

"No need to apologize. It must be kind of hard on you guys to wrap your heads around it."

"Not at all. Personally it explains why you didn't pull away from Uchiha's kiss." He snickered and received a punch which sent him into the wall across the street. Naruto had a tick mark on her forehead.

"I was shocked you asshole! It happened too quickly and before I knew it our lips had already touched!"

"I was just joking! Geez, you're more violent than Sakura." He replied while puling himself from the hole in the wall.

"Sorry, I don't know what happened. I just got really pissed at you. It was uncalled for." She said while bowing. Kiba sweat dropped at that. He was surprised when Naruto held her stomach and bent over. Kiba ran over to her and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, but get me to baa-chan." Kiba nodded and picked her up bridal style. He ran through the streets of Konoha until he reached the Hokage tower. He barged into the Hokage's office to find Tsunade asleep on her desk with an open sake bottle next to her paper work.

"Hokage-sama! Wake up!" Tsunade grabbed the sake bottle and threw it. Kiba ducked and Tsunade lifted her head to see Naruto sweating and groaning in pain. She told Kiba to put her down on the floor and told him to leave. He hesitated but left.

Tsunade's palm glowed green as she ran a diagnostic jutsu on Naruto. What she found made her sigh in relief.

"What's wrong with me baa-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing really. It's just that it seems sensei's Henge slowed down your hormonal reactions and now that it's been lifted you're going to have your period."

"What is a period, baa-chan?" As Tsunade's explanation began, Naruto screamed. The scream could be heard across the entire village.

A week later, after Naruto had bled for the first time, she came out of her apartment. She was dressed differently this time. It was a red kimono with orange bordering. A tight dark green cloth kept it in place around her waist. She wore the standard blue shinobi sandals and a red clip in her hair to keep the long fringe on her left side out of her face.

She went to the Hokage tower because she had been summoned. She knocked and was told to enter.

"Naruto, I'm glad to see you're feeling better. The reason I called you here was because Jiraiya has requested to take you on a three year training trip. I however see it fit to take you on as my apprentice for the next six months then you may leave for two years because our data shows that it takes at least three years for Orochimaru to be ready to change bodies."

"I see, but baa-chan, what can you teach me?"

"I've done some research and I've found that the Henge that was placed on you disrupted your chakra control. In fact, it's surprising that you were able to do the tree climbing exercise at all, let alone the water walking. I will be teaching you medical ninjutsu, precise chakra control and after the first three months, how to use my strength."

"Why after three months?"

"You will be training under Gai to increase your strength, so when combined with the strength amplification technique, it should be more devastating than my own strength." Naruto's eyes glowed in anticipation and zeal.

"When do I start the training?" Naruto asked.

"Today." Just as Tsunade said that there was an exclamation of dynamic entry and Gai entered through an open window.

"Let's go, Naruto. We have a lot to do." Naruto nodded eagerly and exited, following the speedy Gai to a new training regimen that it in itself, spoke volumes of pain.


	2. Chapter 2complications and problems

This is a time skip.

'Thinking'

"**Summon talking"**

'**Tailed beast talking'**

I do not own Naruto.

Naruto had been training with Tsunade for the past six months, and she had been given the title, prodigy. She had mastered most if not all Tsunade's techniques and including the Sōzō Saisei, and thanks to the Uzumakis' longevity, she could use it without any side effects. Tsunade's prediction proved true because Naruto's super strength was more devastating than hers. Naruto had destroyed three training grounds with one punch and when she hit a tree it flew into others before they turned into dust. Without adding chakra, she could obliterate a tree.

She still wore the same clothing and she tied her hair into a high ponytail. She still had the clip in her hair. She wore her headband around her neck. She had really started filling out. Her body was starting to shape itself into a perfect hour glass form. Her breasts had grown into a C-cup, rather large for somebody her age. Her legs looked long and silky and what stunned some people was that it was all natural and she didn't seem to notice the perverted stares she got when walking into. She had a green diamond on her forehead which was proof of the regenerative technique.

Sakura had joined half-way through the fifth month. Naruto had been happy to help in her studies and the two were acclaimed to be the next Tsunades. Today they were walking to the training ground because Tsunade wanted to put Naruto's skills to the test. When they arrived, they were met with the image of Tsunade standing atop a large slug. This was not Katsuyu but this one resembled her.

"Naruto, your object is to stop Karuyu from reaching the tree line. Use any means necessary because you won't be able to hurt her."

"Geez, trying to act cool as always, shishou." Naruto mumbled to herself with a sweat drop.

"What was that?" Tsunade asked darkly.

"Nothing."

"Good, now begin." With that Tsunade leapt off Karuyu to stand near the tree line. Karuyu began to trudge along to the tree line which wasn't very far taking in her size. Naruto punched the ground and the ground caved in, trapping Karuyu. Before Naruto could celebrate, she separated into smaller slugs and they began trudging in different directions. Naruto tried her best but there were too many. She used Tsunade's nerve scrambler technique, and it seemed to work until a green glow began to emanate from the slugs. They began to move again. They were less than a hundred meters from the tree line before Naruto began to get desperate. She pulled off her weights which could rival Lee's. She disappeared in a flash of red and yellow and the slugs started flying back to the centre.

Sakura muttered, "Amazing, I will work as hard as possible to reach your level, Naruto." The slugs recovered and they began to trudge forward again. One slug had just about reached the tree line, when suddenly, chains erupted from Naruto and wrapped themselves around the slugs and brought them together to form Karuyu again. When all of them had joined together again, the chains wrapped around Karuyu and seals began to spread around her. Chakra moved along the chain and Karuyu was effectively stopped. Naruto fell over unconscious. Tsunade and Sakura rushed over to her. Tsunade turned to Karuyu and said, "Karuyu, thank you for your help, you may return."

"**Um, Tsunade-san, these seals seem to be restricting me. I can't get out."** Tsunade then turned to Naruto with a contemplative look on her face. 'Naruto, I wonder when you learned such a technique. She then turned to Sakura, "I need you to go find Jiraiya, tell him it's urgent."

"Hai, shishou." Sakura ran off. After about an hour, a very angry Sakura was dragging Jiraiya. Jiraiya had the expression of a petulant child on his face. "You know, you should treat your elders better."

"Shut up pervert!" She screeched, "You don't deserve my respect after what I caught you doing!" She then threw Jiraiya over to Tsunade who then sighed and gave a full account of what happened. "I now need you to get rid of the seals to allow Karuyu to return home."

"Alright, but what do I get in return." He said with a lecherous grin on his face. In reply Tsunade lifted her fist and made sure he could see the amount of chakra radiating off of it. "This, if you don't do it." Tsunade replied darkly and Jiraiya gulped. He examined them and whistled, "These will take at least an hour to get rid of. It seems she has a deep understanding of seals and these chakra chains are reminiscent of Kushina's special chakra." Tsunade looked shocked and nodded for him to proceed. Jiraiya began to write seals all over Karuyu's body. After he was finished, he slammed his fist onto the ground and released a large amount of chakra from his body, there was a puff of smoke and the chains and seals were gone. Before they could celebrate more chains sprouted in the surrounding area.

Tsunade shouted, "Karuyu, leave immediately." She disappeared in a puff of smoke and the chains just remained, looking like reared cobras.

Jiraiya turned to Naruto. 'You really are your mother's daughter."

Mindscape

Naruto woke up to find herself in an underground sewer-like construction. She immediately sat up but sighed in relief when she didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. She began walking but felt a presence near the next corner. She turned to find herself in front of a massive cage. A piece of paper with the word seal on it was keeping it closed. She walked up to it and jumped back when a giant clawed paw reached out to tear her to shreds.

"Come closer human, so I can rip you apart."

"Um, no thanks?" She replied, not knowing what to say. Out of the shadows, a beast of monstrous proportions walked out. Naruto was unfazed as she had met it when Jiraiya pushed her into a massive trench.

"Why have you come to bother me? Leave me be, you stink up the place."

"Excuse me? Have you smelt your breath?" The Kyuubi glared at her, but then his gaze swerved to something behind her. She turned and was met with the vision of a red haired woman in a long black dress.

"Naruto, my dear daughter. Oh how long I've waited for this moment. Finally we meet."

"Mom?" Naruto stared at her for what felt like an eternity, memorizing every detail. **(A/N I really don't feel like writing out the entire conversation. Same as in the manga)**

"Originally my chakra was placed in you to aid you in taking the Kyuubi's chakra but it seems you're going to be able to do that yourself. I am proud of you Naruto, and I'm pretty sure your father is too." As she finished speaking, another figure appeared. It was the Yondaime Hokage.

When Naruto saw him, she ran to him while crying. He held her and said, "It appears I am no longer needed. I put my chakra in you to repair the seal should it ever weaken to the point of releasing the Kyuubi. Naruto, your mother has told you our story and now we will be going."

"Naruto, go to Kumogakure, the Hachibi Jinchuriki will be able to help you in taking the Kyuubi's chakra. I can't help you with mastering the chakra chains; you will have to develop your own techniques. Don't worry about seals. The chakra chains will convert your chakra into whatever you want the seals to do. That is why the Uzumakis were so acclaimed of their sealing abilities. While not all had chakra chains, they could convert their chakra into seals on a whim" Kushina said.

"Ask Jiraiya-sensei to give you the key so that you don't have to constantly need him near." Minato said. Naruto nodded and they hugged each other. Minato and Kushina began to fade. Minato said, "I am going to impart my knowledge of the Hiraishin to you but I want you to make it yours." He placed his translucent hand on her forehead and Naruto felt the memories flow into her. They vanished while standing next to each other, looking proud and smiling. Naruto's tears stopped as she looked at the Kyuubi. The beasts red eyes pierced her. She was thinking about using its chakra since she hadn't used it since she began her training with Tsunade. The beast's red eyes pierced her.

"I will not submit to any human, you are all useless containers to my awesome power." Kyuubi said while thrashing against the seals gate.

"I wouldn't dream of doing that. I will only accept your power only if you are willing to give." She said with a warm smile. The Kyuubi's fur bristled, "You are going to waste your life waiting then." The Kyuubi said, looking even more menacing than usual.

"We'll see about that." Naruto replied cheekily.

Naruto woke up smiling to see the faces of Jiraiya and Tsunade. She got up and told them everything that had happened. They nodded and Tsunade left to her office while Jiraiya beckoned her to follow him.

They arrived at a clear training ground and Jiraiya turned to Naruto, "Show me what you have learned of the Hiraishin." Naruto looked taken aback and nodded. She took out a few kunais and branded them by burning a symbol into the blade using a chakra enhanced finger. She threw them across the training ground and transported herself across to them all in the span of a few seconds. "It appears you've mastered it, but you should make sure that it can't be copied. You should try combining it with your bloodline; therefore the markers can be on you all the time and you can create as many as you want."Jiraiya said. Naruto nodded and tried to summon up the chakra chains. She managed produce chains which came out of her body and hovered protectively, then from them sprouted white kunais which had seals on them. She tried to move around like before and she repeated the feat. Jiraiya nodded satisfied. "On this training trip I will try to teach you all the jutsu I know and I will also teach you how to master the Kyuubi's chakra."

"Ero-sennin, mother already explained to me how to do it. Father told me to ask you for the key." Jiraiya nodded as if evaluating something, then he made some hand seals and a frog with a long scroll as it s stomach came out of his mouth. Jiraiya then told Naruto to open her mouth. She did and the frog slid down her throat. She gagged and looked extremely sick. She bent over and after about ten minutes of sputtering, she stood up. She punched Jiraiya sending him into a tree. "You didn't tell me it would be that disgusting!" she screamed at him.

"You didn't ask, Gaki." Jiraiya said, picking himself out of the trees. "If my help is not appreciated, I'll go elsewhere." With that he shunshined away. Naruto sweat dropped. 'That's just an excuse for you to go peeping Ero-sennin.'

Naruto headed back to the village. She was thinking about everything that had happened in the past six months. She sat down at Ichiraku Ramen and remembered the many advances she had gotten.

**Flashback**

Naruto was walking down to the hot springs when out of nowhere, Kiba came up to her. He had a bright blush on his face. "Naruto, I was wondering if you would like to go and have dinner with me sometime." Kiba said.

"Um, Kiba, you're a nice guy, but I'm not really looking for any relationships at the moment. It's not that I don't like you, I just don't feel ready for something like that." Naruto told him as nicely as she could. He nodded looking slightly down but he brightened up a minute later and walked off. She continued on her way and as she was walking, she felt many presences behind her. She turned around quickly to find no one behind her. She just shook it off as being paranoid but quickly turned around again to make sure. She spotted a shoe sticking out from around the corner. "I know you're there, come out now." She was surprised when a large group of boys landed around her. She got into a battle stance.

There was tense silence, then one of them rushed forward exclaiming, "Naruto-chan, marry me." Then a chorus followed as all of them rushed forward exclaiming the same thing. Naruto started running, she jumped onto the rooftops and cursed when some of them followed suit. They had probably received shinobi training. She used mass shadow clone jutsu and in a large puff of smoke, nearly a hundred shadow clones appeared. They split up in different directions. The boys split up following a group of clones each. When the area was clear, a crack appeared on the ground and a disgruntled Naruto climbed out of it.

"Whew, I need to talk to somebody about this but first I'm going to relax." Naruto said while sighing. She walked away, but little did she know that a group of boys had stayed behind and were following her. She entered the bath house, took off her clothes and quickly washed. She wrapped a towel around herself and walked out. The women screamed. "NARUTO! What are you doing here? Get out, what are you doing, you little pervert."

"No, it's nothing like that. Haven't you heard? I'm actually a girl and-" Naruto was interrupted.

"Get out!" The women screamed and pushed her out. "But my clothes are inside and-" Naruto began.

"We don't care! Leave!" They closed the door. Naruto screeched in frustration. Now she had to walk to her apartment like this. She jumped onto the rooftops and hid in the shadows of water tanks and the likes. Her apartment was in her sights. She leapt out of the shadows and made a dash for it and as she leapt across the last gap she was tackled to the ground. A loud exclamation soon followed, "Naru-chan, please marry me!" She screamed and a loud SLAP! was heard across the village. The boy on top of her was sent flying into a wall. She jumped up to her apartment and she locked the door after she entered. She was breathing hard and she clutched her heart to help steady herself. This was a day she wouldn't soon forget.

**Flashback End**

Naruto decided to order a vegetable ramen because Sakura was constantly nagging her about eating healthily. The first taste she had of it, she nearly spat it out. She ordered ten bowls of miso ramen with pork cutlets and various other toppings. She wolfed down the vegetable ramen and quickly moved on to the miso. After the first three bowls, she slowed down and began to enjoy her food. She was going to miss this place. She was supposed to be leaving with Jiraiya the following day. She said goodbye to Teuchi and Ayame and headed back to pack. She wasn't really going to need much. She decided to pack all of her books on medical theory and weapons, as well as a change of clothes. She went into the village to buy a travelling cloak. She entered a shop nofar from her apartment. She browsed the racks and decided to buy a standard Konoha traveling cloak and an ANBU style cloak but instead of it being white, it was black. She planned on making adjustments to it. She took them home. She transmitted her chakra into the inside sleeves of the black cloak and installed seals which could absorb chakra from jutsus and convert it into usable chakra. She inscribed other seals which stored chakra and storage seals for weapons and scrolls. This was designed to deceive the enemy into thinking that she was unarmed, and when she was nearly out of chakra she could take it from her cloak. She put seals which would allow the cloak to repair itself hsould it be damaged. Satisfied with her work, she put it on her bed in preparation for tomorrow. She heard a knock on her door and went to see who it was.

Sakura stood there and Naruto was shocked to find that the sun was setting. "Naruto, I was wondering if you would like to spar with me. For old times' sake." Sakura said, standing in the doorway, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Naruto smiled at this. She nodded and they headed out. When they reached the training ground, Sakura put on her thick gloves and leapt away from Naruto. Both of them looked at each other. Sakura remembered the first time she had joined her apprenticeship.

**Flashback**

"Naruto, I would like you to take Sakura to the training ground and help her in her evasion skills. I've already drilled into her the importance of it." Tsunade said from behind the Hokage's desk.

"Hai shishou." Naruto said with a bow, shocking Sakura because she remembered Naruto as the type of person to not give anyone any respect. She began to see Naruto in a new light but that was shattered when Naruto continued, "Baa-chan, I expect a meal at Ichiraku's after this." She said while turning and walked out. Sakura bowed and hastily ran after Naruto.

Reaching a large clearing in a forest just outside Konoha, Naruto looked Sakura up and down then walked to the other side of the training ground. "Get ready." Naruto shouted to her. Sakura smirked, because she had trained a lot in the past five and a half months, so much so that she believed she could beat Naruto. "Hajime!" Naruto cried. Sakura charged at Naruto, hoping to end this quickly. About a hundred metres from Naruto, Sakura launched a barrage of shruiken. Naruto vansihed in a flash. Sakura looked around and heard a cry from above her. She dodged as Naruto's outstretched leg hit the ground, causing it to break apart and a few trees to topple. Sakura closed her eyes to avoid the debris from entering them. Naruto took this oppurtunity and ran in, punching Sakura into a nearby tree, breaking it. "I thought Tsunade-shishou alresy explained to never to close your eyes when an enemy is right in front of you!" Naruto shouted. Sakura nodded and stood up with determination on her face.

**Flashback End**

Sakura didn't have the amount of chakra necessary to make her attacks necessary, but she was working on it. When they were both ready, Sakura threw a kunai and rushed in. Naruto deflected it with her own kunai and waited until Sakura swiped with her kunai. Naruto stopped it and sent a sweeping kick at Sakura. Sakura jumped over it and stopped a punch at her head but there was a lot of force behind it. The punch sent Sakura to the other side of the clearing. Naruto punched down at the ground and a large chunk of rock popped out. She hit it sending it flying at Sakura. Sakura dodged it but this time, Naruto noted, her eyes were open. The sun had gone down but there was a faint light. "Sakura, forgive me. I need to get back home for a goodnight's sleep." With that Naruto turned around and walked away. "Sayonara, Naruto." Sakura called out. Naruto waved a hand back and disappeared into the trees.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Naruto (I realize that I had forgotten this)

The next day, Naruto woke up and showered. Outside she heard the normal hustle and bustle of Konoha but it soon became urgent. She stepped out and dressed.

Today she wore a maroon dress with yellow trimmings along its billowing sleeves which covered her hands and the hem which reached half-way to her calves. The collar also had a yellow trim and accentuated her cleavage. Her sun-blond hair reached her lower back and she placed the clip on the fringe on the left side of her face again. She walked out and saw everybody, including the civilians, headed for the Hokage tower. She jumped on the rooftops and headed there. She promised herself to put the Hiraishin markers in key parts around Konoha.

She dropped down into the masses and waited for the Hokage to address the people. Tsunade finally stepped out after five minutes.

"I have called you, the people of Konohagakure no Sato, to tell you that the Fourth had a child. Her name is none other than Uzumaki Naruto. Let us give her a warm leave-taking as she embarks on her journey with Jiraiya to become stronger."

Everyone turned around to find Naruto, but she had disappeared.

Sitting on her father's stone head, Naruto looked out across Konohagakure no Sato and thought about everyone knowing who she was. Things would be a whole lot different. She enjoyed the fresh crisp morning air and decided she would deal with it when she returned. She got up and shunshined to her home. She put away the Konoha traveling cloak into a seal on her black cloak. She put her black cloak on and shunshined to the village gates.

Kotetsu and Izumo almost fell out of their chairs at the sight of the new Namikaze heir. She waved goodbye to them and kept on walking. Jiraiya appeared in a puff of smoke next to her and they disappeared into the distance.

**I realize that this was extremely short however, this is a filler and I'm posting another chapter after this. **

**I haven't written in a long time, and before you crucify me, I just wasn't motivated because I'm a very lazy person. Now I have been hit with inspiration, and the time is 11.46pm. If that isn't a sig, I don't know what is.**

**I am happy that so many faved this story and put it on alert. The number of reviews I got was demoralizing, however, I realize this might be because of me not updating. From now own, you can expect an update every week, two weeks tops.**

**Now an issue which came up to me was that Naruto appears to have undertaken a sudden change, I'm sorry to have skimped on the details but I really wanted to get to the good parts. (I'm working on that habit.) Anyway goodnight and please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto

Two figures could be seen walking towards the gates of Konoha. One could be identified as Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sanin, but the other was a lot harder to identify. When Kotetsu and Izumo looked closely they recognized her as Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, but she was now wearing a tight fitting ANBU bodysuit. Added to that, she now had C-cup breasts which made both men suffer nosebleeds. Walking with a grace that made her seem feline and her face had greatly matured over her two and a half year training. She wore her headband around her neck and wore black shinobi-high-heeled sandals. There was a slim carry belt which housed three pouches. Her hair was flowing loosely behind her.

Naruto and Jiraiya walked past the pair and into the village. She climbed up a pole and looked out at the wondrous sight before. She stood in silent awe and wonder at the place she called home and how little it had changed.

She spotted Sakura and the Konohamaru Corps. She jumped down and greeted them. Konohamaru tried to give her a hug and ended up rubbing his face on her breasts. She flicked him and he flew back into Moegi, who in turn got up, grabbed him by his scarf and proceeded to punch the living daylights out of him.

Naruto started her rant, "How dare you? Ero-gaki! I should beat you within an inch of your life! You do not treat a woman that way!" With her fist raised she walked slowly toward him only to be stopped by Sakura who was laughing her ass off.

"Naruto, you haven't changed that much on the inside, have you? What about myself, do I look more of a woman now?"

"Sakura, your hairstyle makes you look like the old hag and you haven't grown that much either. From where I'm standing you look like a midget."

"Naruto! You fat cow! How dare you judge me? I look good thank you very much and I don't need to stand around here listen-" She was interrupted by Naruto's joyous laughter.

"Sakura, you see? You don't need anybody's opinion on how you look. You should be more confident with yourself."Sakura smirked and all of a sudden she threw a punch at Naruto, who dodged it by back flipping and attempted to kick Sakura, who in turn used her other arm to push Naruto's leg to the side of her. They stopped and remained still, both of them smiling. "It appears your skills are still intact, Naruto."

"Yours too, however you need to work on your deception, that smirk gave you away immediately." Jiraiya sweat dropped. _I remember when she tried that with me. Broke my ribs and luckily she knew medical ninjutsu otherwise I would have been out of action for a month. Damn you Tsunade. _Jiraiya looked up at the Hokage Tower._ You're breeding monsters in that tower office of yours, aren't you? You were probably trying to make my life a living hell with your abominations._

"Naruto let's go, Tsunade's probably getting impatient."

"Hai ero-sennin, Sakura you coming too?"

"Of course."

They ran along the rooftops and entered the tower. They knocked and opened the door. They walked in and stood before Tsunade. "Baa-chan! How have you been holding up? I had my doubts but you seem to be coping with the position of Hokage."

"Shut up, Naruto! Anyway I take it the training had some results, right?"

"Of course, did you think we just danced around the world?" Jiraiya asked incredulously.

"Baa-chan, I could probably give you a run for your money."

"Good because you're going to fight somebody I've put off missions in order for him to rest up." The door opened and in walked Shikamaru followed by Temari. "Naruto is that you? At least you don't look like much of an idiot anymore." He backed off as she raised her fist. "What I mean is , you've changed."

"Of course I have." Naruto said with a big grin.

"No she hasn't, still as rambunctious as ever." Sakura said, making Naruto hang her head. Naruto lunged at Sakura, who stepped aside but was pulled with Naruto due to Naruto's outstretched arm. There was rolling and it ended up with Naruto sitting on top of Sakura's back. "I used to roll around in the mud, you had no fighting chance."

"We'll see. One day I will win." Tsunade cleared her throat.

"It appears your opponent is already here." Naruto peaked outside the window and found Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, how are you? I have something for you." She jumped out and landed next to him. She searched about in a pouch on her belt and pulled out a book.

"Ero-sennin gave it to me, but I didn't find it that interesting." She handed it to Kakashi who then immediately began to read it. "Okay, stop goofing off Kakashi." Tsunade said form the window. Kakashi snapped his book closed. "Kakashi-sensei? You're my opponent?"

"Not quite." Naruto entered the office and turned around to see Kakashi sitting on the windowsill. "I will be fighting you and Sakura together."

"Depending on the results of how you fight against Kakashi, I will decide how to deal with you. Sakura, it's not like you've been wasting your time working under me."

"Hai, shishou."

"Shall we get started then?" Kakashi asked, "Well that's what I'd like to say, but Naruto is probably tired after getting back. I'll give you time to rest."

Naruto smirked, "I'm not tired at all sensei. I am taking you down." Kakashi eye-smiled at her.

"I'll meet you at training ground three, later." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

**-Training Ground Three-**

"Geez, why is Kakashi-sensei always so late?" Sakura asked.

"He's always like that." Naruto said and Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke soon after.

"There was this old woman and-"

"Right! That's a lie and you know it!"

"So, shall we begin?" Kakashi jumped down and walked towards the training poles, Naruto and Sakura got nostalgic and when Kakashi turned around he found them kneeling on the ground.

_I guess the memory of Sasuke is still crippling for these two._ Naruto and Sakura looked up when they heard ringing bells. Kakashi was holding a pair of bells in one hand with his new book in the other.

"I'm going to test how much you've improved. You guys haven't given up on Sasuke, right?"

"Of course not." Sakura replied.

"That's what I've been training for." Naruto added.

Kakashi nodded, "The rules are the same as the first time we did this, you have until sunrise tomorrow." He put his book away saying he was going to have to be serious. Sakura put on a pair of thick brown gloves, while Naruto put on a pair of fingerless black gloves. They stared at each other for a little while and when the wind blew, white metallic looking chains erupted from Naruto's arms and launched themselves at Kakashi. He jumped back and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw them pierce through the earth like butter. Suddenly they stopped. _So her range is ten metres. I didn't think she'd develop it to this point in such a short time._

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Still as impatient as ever. I haven't even said start yet." Naruto gave a sheepish grin while rubbing her head making her smooth hair appear shaggy. Suddenly Kakashi stiffened when he felt a kunai to his neck. _Her timing with shadow clones has improved. _He looked questioningly at Naruto.

"Hey hey. I think you're missing the point here." Kakashi said in a lazy tone.

"We're ninja Kaka-sensei, we don't play fair." She said with a cute smile on her face making her words sound even more demonic. Kakashi sighed and with the 'start', disappeared. Naruto turned to Sakura, "Your turn."

Sakura nodded and stepped forward. She looked around until she launched her fist at the ground while shouting below. The ground of the clearing in front of her caved in. Kakashi's eyes were wide as he said in a dull voice, "What insane strength." _It appears medical ninjutsu is not all Sakura has learnt from the Godaime._ On the sidelines Tsunade congratulated her student, whilst Jiraiya looked crestfallen. _Another one? Tsunade, you're really trying to make my life more difficult aren't you?_

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura called out, "I've found you." Naruto who had jumped up to stand on one of the training logs gave Sakura thumbs up. Kakashi jumped out and stood on top of a newly made rock hill and analyzed Sakura's technique. Kakashi got into a fighting stance and called out, "Alright, it appears to be my turn now." Kakashi decided it would be best to fight them in a closed environment so he decided to retreat into the forest for the mean time. Lifting his headband while running, he revealed his Sharingan.

Naruto jumped down and ran after him with Sakura. When they entered the forest she stopped and beckoned Sakura to do the same. They crouched down behind a tree. "Sakura, we need to come up with a plan. We can't go charging in blindly." Looking surprised Sakura looked at her for awhile before nodding.

Kakashi who had been running for awhile, decided to hide in a bush. Looking around at a seemingly empty patch of forest, his Sharingan identified Naruto in the treetops and Sakura some distance behind him. He reminisced over how different things were to when they had been younger. He snapped out of his train of thought when he heard the whistling of kunai being launched at him. He leapt out of his hiding spot only to have to dodge another volley by rebounding off a tree. He pulled out his own kunai. Naruto leapt at him and their kunai clashed after Kakashi jumped to intercept her.

Hearing the whistling of kunai, Naruto used a branch to swing herself away hearing the thunk of the kunai hitting the wood. Naruto jumped down next to Sakura. Kakashi looked at them skeptically, "I'm going to teach you something, Shinobi Battle Tactic No. 1: Taijutsu." Kakashi rushed in and attempted to fight with Naruto. As his fist went to her face, she hit his fist to the side and a chakra-enhanced fist went flying into his face. He flew back and broke through a tree. Not taking any chances, he looked up to see Naruto go up in smoke and Sakura standing in her place. He got up shakily and looked around when suddenly chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around him.

"That's not fair, is it Naru-chan?" He looked up to see his blond student calmly sitting on a branch after having seemingly fazed in from nowhere. She jumped down and walked towards him when he went up in smoke. She growled, then turning to Sakura she called out, "Going with plan 3A."

Sakura nodded and hit a tree causing it to topple over. She hit a couple more and Kakashi suddenly flew out of the treetop of one. "We knew you wouldn't go very far, kaka-sensei." Sakura said with a smirk on her face. She jumped next to Naruto who created two kage bunshin and Naruto jumped down. Kakashi dispelled most of them and looked around for the real one. She came running behind him calling out sennen goroshi. Kakashi jumped up and in his haste to get out of the way, he had forgotten about Sakura. She jumped down silently and Kakashi's eyes widened to an unbelievable degree when he saw her headed for him.

Sakura held back slightly and she punched him into the ground. The ground shook and when the dust cleared, there was a log. Naruto and Sakura did not waste time, and jumped up into the canopy to hide. They moved silently through the forest and found Kakashi in a clearing taking a breather. Naruto jumped down and created an army of shadow clones. Kakashi began fighting his way through them. Sakura deciding to shake things up a bit hit the ground and broke apart the clearing. The clones in the way were dispelled and Kakashi jumped back. Seeing himself cornered, Kakashi asked himself out loud with a sweat drop, "What should I do now?"

Kakashi disappeared using shunshin. Naruto clenched her teeth in frustration. She ran off knowing Sakura would follow. She sent a pulse of chakra to her back and to Sakura's amazement; a seal array appeared on her shoulder. As if answering the silent question, Naruto said out loud, "This seal is used to unlock my latent abilities. I unlocked my chakra chains on pure chance, but thanks to the Kyuubi, they have been repressed. I learnt something from Jiraiya-sensei, and that was that Uzumakis were good sensors. I managed to isolate the inactive gene in me and this seal allows me to channel chakra and keep it active by activating a stasis seal allowing me access to this ability without me constantly having to channel to keep it active. There's another ability but it's too embarrassing to talk about." Sakura looked at Naruto and saw redness creep onto her face and decided it's better not to ask.

The sun had finally set and Naruto finally stopped. Holding her left hand up in a ram seal, she closed her eyes. After less than 5 seconds, she was speeding off to where she had sensed Kakashi. Sakura noticed the seal on her back recede back under her outfit.

Naruto spoke out loud, "Sakura, I'm not going to hold back anymore. Get ready to leap back." They found Kakashi near a river and Naruto ran through a series of hand seals. She leaped out of the tree line. Landing on the ground and slammed her palms together in a prayer fashion. Massive chains shot out of her and they charged at Kakashi, the spiked end looking to pierce or bludgeon him. Sakura leapt away seeing that they were beginning to sprout in all directions. Kakashi jumped back, running through a set of hand seals in under a second. He blew a fireball directly at her. Her chains began to glow and his fireball dissipated. His eyes widened as he saw they were still on trajectory. He dodged and sighed in relief as they pierced the earth where he had been but groaned as a multitude of chains appeared out of the larger ones, effectively binding him. The y swung him and slammed him into the river. Realizing Kakashi was distracted; Naruto threw off her weights wanting to finish the exercise quickly, causing a large portion of the trees behind her to collapse. As Kakashi came up running through hand seals, he felt a powerful punch hit him in the chest. He slid across the water before skidding along the bank and flying into a tree which fell over and he finally stopped.

_Shit! I can't move. When did Naruto become so strong? _Naruto and Sakura walked toward him. Finally they reached him and Naruto picked up the bells and threw the other to Sakura. Sakura thanked her and Naruto nodded before kneeling next to Kakashi. A green glow surrounded her hands and Kakashi sighed in relief as the numbing pain he had been experiencing diminished.

Kakashi sat up, "I guess, I underestimated you. 'Ey, Naruto? I probably should read your training report, but I guess I thought since you were in good hands there was no need."

"Look underneath the underneath." Naruto reiterated in a sagely manner.

"Geez, Naruto. Just let it go." Sakura said pushing Naruto's head down.

"Pinky, when I get up you're gonna start crying." They were interrupted by Kakashi's laughter as he lay back down and stared at the stars. He was soon joined by Sakura and Naruto and some distance away, an owl blinked at the noise.

**Review please. Think Gama-chan with a tear in his eye, REVIEW. Also so I can know what you like or don't like.**


	5. Chapter 5

"What? You want me to go on a simple C-rank mission? I refuse." Naruto vehemently opposed to the Hokage.

"Naruto. You haven't matured at all." Iruka said.

"Naruto, I assigned you a C-rank because you've been out of action for a while." Tsunade said with the beginnings of a tick mark on her forehead.

"That's bull! I don't need you to go easy on me. I"- Naruto was stopped in her rant by Sakura who put a hand on her shoulder.

"Naruto, you know what she's like, and this week is that time of the month. You don't want to piss her off." Sakura whispered urgently.

"Hmph, Sandaime-jiji was a lot more understanding." Naruto said to herself.

"What was that?" Tsunade asked.

"Nothing shishou." As Naruto said that the door burst open and a woman from the intelligence department walked in.

"Tsunade-sama, we've just received an emergency message from Sunagakure. Here is the message." As Tsunade read the decoded message, a frown crept onto her face.

"What happened in Suna baa-chan?"

"It's a summons for help. It appears the Kazekage has been kidnapped by Akatsuki." Tsunade replied with a grave tone. "Since we have more information pertaining to them, they believe our services would be of help to them."

"Gaara." Naruto murmured to herself but her train of thought was broken by Shizune arguing about sending Team Kakashi. After their argument ended, the Hokage assigned Team Kakashi to go to Suna to find out more about the situation and send a report back to Konoha. They were also told to follow any orders presented by Suna and to serve as backup in their dealings with Akatsuki.

As they were about to leave, Tsunade said, "Oh, and Naruto, the council of Konoha had funds put together to buy a large expanse of land on the northern outskirts of Konoha. I'm sure you'll find it to your liking." Tsunade handed her a map and keys.

"Yosh! They finally know who their superiors are." Naruto said with a cheeky smile before turning around and walking out. Everybody however, noticed her heels leave deep gouges on the wooden floor indicating how upset she must be. Sakura wanted to go comfort her friend but she knew she wanted to be alone.

Naruto hopped along the rooftops following the directions to a nice compound. There were many buildings implying that this was meant for a great many people. She headed to the biggest house and slipped in the ornately designed gold key. She looked around and mapped the house in her mind. She walked upstairs and went into, what she presumed to be, the master bedroom. She walked out onto a balcony and looked at the entire area. Knowing she was meant to leave in little over half an hour, she decided to make it home a little later.

She had been greatly upset when she found out that the council had designed a compound for her, because in her mind, they only did that because she was the daughter of the Yondaime, however she wouldn't deny their gift because they couldn't use it to gain favor with her.

Looking again, she noticed that even though the compound had high walls, it wouldn't keep out even a genin ninja. Better safe than sorry she told herself, so she climbed onto the roof and ran through a series of hand seals before chains large enough to bind a bijuu erupted out of her back. They flew and embedded into the compound walls and the ground. They were absorbed and the walls and ground seemed to knit together. For a moment seals flashed then they disappeared. Naruto designed this seal array by placing a stasis seal on her chains. The dense chakra meant that the amount of power she had placed meant that they would last for at least two weeks.

Naruto knelt down panting slightly. She still wasn't used to creating chains of that side. From her mother's memories, she was able to see that her mother could bind the Kyuubi with hardly any drain on her chakra at all. That is the level of mastery she wanted to achieve. She sent a small pulse of chakra through her body and a seal on her neck became visible while expanding from her back. She felt her energy reserves fill up to a comfortable level and she cut it off. She didn't want to squander all the chakra she'd stored. Looking at the sun she judged that she still had enough time to get another bowl of Ichiraku Ramen. Ever since she had tasted it earlier that morning, she couldn't get enough of it.

As she sat down, she felt as if she was being watched. She turned around and saw a shadow disappear around an alley's corner. She was about to follow when a large bowl of miso ramen was placed in front of her. The heavenly aroma was just too much for her to resist, so with a quick 'Itadakimasu' she dug in. With a satisfied sigh, she placed her money on the counter and left. Seeing as she had nothing else to do, she headed towards the gates of Konoha.

After a few words with Tsunade and Jiraiya at the gates, they headed off. After a while of tree hopping, they met up with Temari who joined their envoy. Naruto sped up slightly as she wanted to rescue her fellow Jinchuriki. Tears came to her eyes but she didn't care, she was simply too upset.

After a full day and a half of running, they finally reached the gates of Sunagakure. There was a Suna shinobi already there waiting for them. "Please come quickly, we were told that you had a medical expert among you." They followed him. "Kankurou-san has been poisoned. Our medical teams have done all they could but the nature of the poison is foreign to us." They entered a building and went up a few staircases with Kakashi in the lead. As Kakashi stepped around the corner, he heard an exclamation and was startled to see an old woman leaping toward him. Naruto stepped forward and chains shot out of her arm, binding the old woman. They stretched and placed her down gently a good distance from Kakashi. A man who appeared to be her brother explained to her that Kakashi was not the famed white fang.

"Just joking, I was just pretending to be senile." The old woman said with a smile. Everyone face faulted.

Naruto looked at Sakura, "Are you feeling up to it?"

Sakura just smirked and stepped forward, tying up her hair. She gave Kankurou an examination and was able to ascertain the problem. "Naruto, here's the poison formula. Can you take over for me while I make the antidote?"

Naruto perked up, "Sure, always happy to help. What I'm going to need from the lot of you now is _(**insert a list of awesome sounding medical compounds**)_. Now, I'm going to require all of you to hold him down", she addressed the medics and other shinobi in the room. She tied her hair with an elastic band from one of her pouches and she began the procedure by inserting a bit of medical chakra into the bubble of solution and pressed it in, through and out of his body. The poison collected inside of it and she repeated the process with another set of tubs. Finally she sighed and told them Kankurou would be fine. They sat down and waited for Sakura. After another couple of hours, Sakura walked in and gave Kankurou the antidote to drink.

A message scroll was delivered and Baki handed it over to Kakashi stating it was from the Hokage.

Naruto looked at her wayward sensei, "Kaka-sensei, what does it say?"

"It appears that Hokage-sama has decided that to send Gai's team as backup." Naruto appeared delighted and reminisced over how strong everybody had gotten. She turned when she heard Kakashi ask how Suna was tracking Akatsuki. It appeared that they had lost their trail. Naruto began to lose her cool when she counted to ten slowly in her head to help calm down. Inside the hospital room, Kankurou got up and showed a small piece of cloth he had taken from Sasori, another Akatsuki member who was responsible for his current state of health. Kakashi wasted no time and summoned his Nin-dogs and had them sniff out the scent. They quickly dispersed and followed it. Naruto being eager to find Gaara was about to follow them but was stopped by Kakashi who said they would need to rest before fighting Akatsuki members.

Naruto grudgingly agreed and saw that the sun had already set. She was given a room to share with Sakura and she went to sleep after going over a couple of possible attack patterns they could follow.

The next day had Naruto awoken by a very irate Sakura who had flipped her bed.

"What the hell Sakura!" Naruto spoke as she got up and picked up the bed. Naruto threw it and Sakura punched it, causing it to fall apart. This was all a distraction as she ended up being kicked through the wall and into a hallway. Everybody just stared at them for a while before Naruto blushed, realizing she was in a black t-shirt which just went over the middle of her thighs.

Sakura picked herself up, "Was it really that necessary to kick me through a wall?"

"You should learn to respect people when they're asleep." Naruto turned her back to Sakura as she pulled the t-shirt over her head. Sakura noted a tattoo made up of intricate swirls and kanji she couldn't decipher. She became slightly confused but decided to ask another time.

"But Kakashi-sensei said that the hounds found where Gaara is." Sakura continued.

"Well then why didn't you say so? I oath you're getting less comprehensible these days. Forehead."

"BAKA! How dare you." Sakura launched her bed at Naruto who just knelt down to put the leggings of her suit on causing it to go sailing over her and into the wall. Sakura sighed in exasperation and told her to meet them outside in five minutes.

Naruto grunted her ascent and quickly got dressed. Afterward she went down the stairs to the front of the building. She saw a small party of Suna shinobi waiting for her alongside her sensei and team mate. As they were about to leave, Baki had informed the Suna party that they couldn't go due to the political situation with other nations. Before things could get too far out of hand Chiyo, one of the twin elders, informed them that she would accompany them. Before leaving, Kakashi gave Pakkun instructions to find Gai's team and inform them of the rendezvous point.

They said their goodbyes and ran following Kakashi. After reaching the tree line, Naruto informed them that she would be activating her sensor ability. When the seal finished spreading Naruto, sucked in a short breath. She couldn't get over the feeling of being able to sense the tiniest of creatures. She frowned but then smiled as she sensed five very faint chakra signatures headed in the same direction as them. She deduced that Pakkun had found Gai's team.

"Kaka-sensei, Pakkun has rendezvoused with Gai's team." Naruto said. Kakashi looked at her in shock, never having realized how strong her sensory abilities were. He gave a quick grunt of satisfaction and carried on hopping.

After some time, she sensed a chakra that appeared to corrupt the forest but she couldn't pinpoint its exact location. Then she felt a strong chakra signature headed their way.

"Kaka-sensei, I believe there is an enemy headed our way. He or she is very fast, we should meet up with them soon." Then she felt a massive explosion of chakra near where she sensed Gai's team was. "Kaka-sensei, it appears that Gai-sensei's team has already engaged another enemy. From what I'm feeling, it could only be a member of Akatsuki." Kakashi's eye narrowed but he realized that Gai's team should be able to deal with him. After another couple of minutes they saw a large clearing and noticed a figure standing there, as if waiting for them. They landed in front of him and immediately they all looked down except Sakura.

"Uchiha Itachi." Naruto clenched her fists.

"Sakura, don't look him in the eyes. His genjutsu take effect only if you look him in the eye." Kakashi supplied and Sakura looked down at his chest.

Naruto closed her eyes, "Kakashi-sensei, let me deal with him seeing as I'm the only one here who can't be affected by his genjutsu at this moment in time."

Kakashi nodded, "Be careful, Naruto. We'll supply back up." Naruto nodded before rushing in. Kakashi's eye widened at seeing her speed. She engaged Itachi in taijutsu, however he seemed to be able to counter her every move. Sending more chakra to the seal, she was able to see the chakra flowing through his body. Enough to see his limbs in case of any counter attacks. She felt Kakashi leap forward to try and attack while Itachi was preoccupied. Itachi jumped back as Kakashi chased him and began to engage him. Naruto waited for her moment before rushing in and with a cry of 'Konoha Senpuu', she kicked Itachi back hard. The speeds he flew at were extraordinary. She felt him crash and could assess from the sounds of bones breaking that at least four ribs had been broken.

Itachi stood up shakily, the only reason he had survived that kick was because he noticed a large amount of chakra focusing in her leg. He had managed to swerve with the kick and used chakra to reinforce his chest. Deciding he had had enough, he launched a fireball directly at them. Chains shot out of Naruto and the seal on her neck began to expand. The chains pierced through the fireball and it dissipated, headed straight for Itachi. Seeing this, he jumped up into the tree tops and started launching kunai not only at Naruto but her team mates. Smaller chains sprouted out of the ones chasing Itachi and deflected them. Sakura looked up in her panic and Itachi's eyes morphed into the Mangekyou Sharingan. Suddenly Sakura screamed and fell over.

Naruto was distracted and Itachi managed to escape. The chains returned back to Naruto and she rushed over to Sakura. The seal on her neck disappeared and she knelt down next to Sakura. She ran a diagnostic jutsu on her seeing that there was some damage to the brain, but she could repair it without leaving any scars. However any wavering in her concentration and she would probably do more harm than good.

"Kaka-sensei, this is going to take some time. Let's set up camp. She should be fine by tonight." Naruto said and Kakashi nodded. After setting up a small smokeless fire they waited. Naruto knelt down next to her friend and began working. Naruto removed the damaged cells and quarantined them as she increase the division rate of the healthy ones. After a couple of hours of injecting small amounts of healing chakra into them, the damage was healed. Then she used larger amounts of chakra to destroy the damaged cells. She sighed as she knelt back and wiped her forehead.

An hour later Sakura woke up with a groan. Kakashi stepped forward and informed her of what happened. Sakura cursed at her own stupidity and they quickly packed and left. Now that it was night time, they increased their pace. They tree hopped until the sun rose. Naruto, confirming that there were no enemies to pose a threat to them nearby deactivated her seal.

"It would appear that they no longer need to delay us." Kakashi said to Chiyo.

"That is a possibility." Chiyo replied.

"Don't tell me they could have-" Sakura couldn't finish her sentence for fear of it being true. Naruto clenched her fist and launched herself forward. Little did she know that Kakashi and Chiyo were currently discussing her and Gaara behind.

They finally arrived at a river and walked up to a large boulder to find Team Gai already waiting. Neji looked on in surprise. "Naruto?" he murmured.

"Looks like you guys were faster than us." Sakura said as they walked up to them. Naruto tried to remain calm but it was too much for her, her eyes gained slits but they did not turn red. She had made a promise and she was going to keep it. They looked up to see a large boulder with a seal on it.

Neji activated his Byakugan to get a good look inside. There was something interfering with it. Naruto started shaking him to tell them what was going on inside. Gai decided to take care of it and jumped back a couple of meters. He ran forward and punched the boulder causing the mountainside to shake.

"I could have told you that wouldn't have worked fuzzy brow-sensei. That's a five seal barrier. There are four other seals in the vicinity. It's a powerful seal which can only be removed by the one who cast it or if you remove the other four tags. You have to remove them all at the same time or it will remain closed forever or until whoever is inside comes out. Be careful though." She didn't add anymore

"Yosh! This is a task for my team." He handed out wireless-radios and they set out. Neji informed them where they were, since he was able to see them with his Byakugan. Arriving at their destinations they held onto their tags and on the count of three, they all ripped them off. After Kakashi ripped his off at the entrance, he called on Sakura who charged the boulder and hit it with her fist, causing it to collapse.

"Geez, did you have to scream while running. Talk about a charging bull." Naruto said while smirking.

"Naruto, now is not the time." When the last rock fell they leapt in to find two Akatsuki members waiting. Naruto growled when she noticed the blonde one sitting on Gaara's body.

"So then, I wonder which one is the Jinchuuriki." The blonde said to his partner.

"Teme-ra, I'm going to kill you!" Naruto screamed.

"The one who shouts and charges first." His partner replied. His blonde partner smirked. Naruto's head bent and a sinister smile which showed off her elongated canines situated itself on to her face.

"Give him back. I won't say it again." She said as she lifted her right hand and faced her palm toward them. They turned to each other and began discussing who would fight her. Then their conversation turned into arguing about what art is. Then a seal similar to that on her neck appeared in her arm, creeping out from under gloves. Then suddenly a large fireball launched itself from her hand. Then chains shot out from under the Akatsuki members and grabbed Gaara as they leapt away. There was smoke when Gaara's body turned white before exploding. Luckily, they were out of the blast radius.

When the smoke cleared, Naruto noticed a large white bird swallow Gaara's body and it flew over their heads. She turned to Sakura, "Would you be okay with fighting him?" Sakura looked uncertain but Chiyo intervened, "She'll be fine. After all, this is my grandson we'll be fighting." Naruto nodded and ran after the one named Deidara. She had heard his name when they were arguing. Kakashi soon followed.

Deidara stopped and began to taunt Kakashi with the idea that Sasori was a stronger opponent than he was. Finally getting tired, Naruto sent chains that looked large enough to easily drill through a mountain. Deidara's bird elegantly maneuvered through the prickly forest of chains and launched another bird which swiftly flew towards Naruto. Kakashi launched a shruiken which hit it in the neck. Deidara yelled 'Katsu' and it exploded sending the shruiken back to Kakashi at high speeds who deflected it with a kunai.

Deidara began taunting Naruto about the types of lives Jinchuuriki live. He spoke of how the villages of the Jinchuuriki they had already taken seemed glad that they were gone.

Naruto, having heard enough, began to create a cage out of her chains. Deidara noticed this and began to fly away but more chains erupted out of the large ones in an attempt to keep him inside. He flew past them and narrowly escaped through a gap which was being knot together. His cloak was in tatters as he flew down the river. Seeing this, Naruto reabsorbed her chains and chased after him. Kakashi followed at a slightly slower pace, taking time to analyze his opponent.

After a short while, they entered a valley with large wooden restraints. She took this as a water barrier. They carried on charging forward when suddenly three puffs of smoke appeared and out flew three small white birds.

They flew straight at Naruto who lifted her right hand again before a blast of air came out and knocked them away, making them explode. She turned to Kakashi, "Kaka-sensei, the seal on my back allows me to absorb any ninjutsu technique, and sadly I can't change it into something else. I am only able to absorb and release. These techniques remain in stasis so I can call on them again. Now, it's time for retaliation." She created a shadow clone which she picked up and threw it at Deidara. In its right hand, a Rasengan began to form and it landed on the bird and lunged at Deidara. Deidara managed to dodge and the shadow clone used the Rasengan to hit the bird he was using in the neck. It cut right through and the head began to fall to the ground. Naruto created more shadow clones and all of them caught it.

They burrowed him out and the put him alongside on the log. The shadow clones dispersed.

"Kaka-sensei, it appears that he wants to fight me. We can't retreat and defend at the same time so I'm going to follow him and once I know you're safe, I'll retreat. Prepare an ambush in one of the clearings surrounding this area."

Kakashi nodded before picking p Gaara's body and leapt out of the valley. Naruto noticed Deidara on another bird flying toward her but was forced to dodge when chains shot out of her arms and attempted to pierce him. Deidara's bird swerved away and Naruto followed him. She noticed five fast flying white birds coming at her. She lifted her right hand and a pulse of lightning came out and them. They went limp and hit and hit the logs but she noticed, as she flew by, that they didn't explode. She carried on following him.

She noticed that he hadn't tried to attack her for some time. So she sped up and got a little closer. Finally they reached the end of the valley and Naruto jumped higher into the tree tops. She launched her chains form her right arm which were glowing with lighting currently emitting from her right hand. They pierced the bird and Deidara went crashing down.

She lost sight of him but she took some time to analyze the bird. _Just as I thought. His techniques are weak against lightning jutsu. It's a good thing I stocked up when I went to Kumo to meet Kirabi_.

"Looks like I'm going to have to fight you another time. Your annoying chains tore my right arm off." She turned to her right to see Deidara a couple of trees away. She smirked, "You're letting your guard down." Deidara turned to see Naruto about to punch him. He moved to the side but was grazed by the punch and he flew to the ground leaving a crater where he landed.

Naruto looked down to see a pile of messed up clay. She sighed in frustration. The seal on her right hand disappeared and the seal on her neck receded. Another seal appeared on her right shoulder and she was about to leap toward the chakra signature she sensed but she noticed Team Gai's chakra signature surrounding him.

Her sensei landed next to her carrying Gaara. A little while later; Sakura, carrying Chiyo, landed next to them.

Soon afterward, they saw Deidara drop down next to the remnants of his clay bird. He took a bite out of it and swallowed. Team Gai followed close behind. Suddenly Neji yelled, "Get away!" All the shinobis ran. Naruto remained behind and the seal on her right arm appeared again. A stream of lightning charged toward him but he exploded. The massive explosion threatened to incinerate them all. Massive chains shot out of Naruto's body and the seal on her neck appeared again. She began to sweat as it slowly dissipated. Finally after what seemed like a long time, the last of the flames vanished. She noticed a slight warp disappear with some smoke and she looked at her sensei who was breathing heavily.

Naruto, finally feeling dizzy, fell over. The seal on her neck glowed blue as she felt her chakra refill. She got up and looked around. A clearing had just been made and there were no signs of Deidara. She sighed as she sat down. Her teammates and Chiyo landed next to her.

Kakashi looked at his student. _Naruto you've grown quite a lot, haven't you?_ The group walked away with Kakashi and Gaara being supported by Naruto's kage bunshin. Finally lying Gaara down on the grass of a clearing they entered, she ran a diagnostic jutsu on him and was crestfallen to find that he was already dead. She couldn't stand it, so she began pouring her reserves into his body but was stopped by Sakura, who pulled her away. Naruto turned around and buried her head into Sakura's shoulder as she cried.

Feeling a blast of chakra, she turned around to see Chiyo bent over Gaara's body. Naruto noticed that Chiyo wasn't using medical chakra. On closer inspection, she noticed that it was similar to life force. Her suspicions were confirmed when Sakura blurted, "Chiyo-baa-sama, that technique will-" She was stopped by Chiyo's smile.

Seeing the chakra she was converting decrease, Naruto stepped forward and offered her chakra.

"Place your hands on top of mine." Chiyo responded after some silent deliberation. Naruto did so and the amount of chakra flowing out of her, made her grit her teeth. Chiyo spoke to Naruto about the mistakes she made and how it was up to Naruto's generation to correct what the foolish old people had done. Chiyo told Naruto to become a Hokage like none before her and left a request for her to save Gaara.

Chiyo fell over taking her last breath and a peaceful expression settled on her face. Gaara started sitting up and Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder. Gaara turned to her in surprise and saw her smiling gently at him.

At the Suna graveyard, everybody had their heads bowed in prayer in front of Chiyo's headstone. Naruto and Sakura were the last to leave.

Outside the Suna wall, everybody began to say their goodbyes. Then Gaara held out his hand. Naruto stared at it in shock for a moment before jumping and giving him a hug. She felt him stiffen as they both fell over. Naruto got up with confusion and offered her hand to Gaara who took it albeit with an almost invisible pink tint on his cheeks.

Everybody waved goodbye as they started the journey back home. After a while they heard Kakashi shout form behind them. They turned around to see Gai giving Kakashi a piggyback ride. Everybody sweat dropped except Lee. "I see, you're training aren't you?" Lee asked.

Gai nodded before blasting off. "See if you can keep up with me!" He called out. Naruto turned to Lee, "Lee, let's go. We have to beat Gai-sensei." She tore off after them leaving a trail of dust behind her. Lee soon followed and soon afterward everybody started running. They knew that they probably wouldn't be able to keep up with those three, but they could at least keep them in their sights.

Gai and Naruto were neck and neck followed closely by Lee. Seeing the Konoha gates, Gai and Naruto launched themselves forward. Using the ground as leverage Naruto dug her fingers into it and with a last burst of speed, narrowly beat Gai.

"Naruto my student, you have made me proud. From this day forward your youthful flames shall serve to inspire me!" Gai said. Lee came charging in shortly afterward. "Lee, you have a lot of work to do."

"Hai, Gai sensei. I came third this time but next time I'll make sure to come first." Lee said in a determined tone.

"Actually Lee, you came fourth seeing as I'm carrying Kakashi." Lee had tears in his eyes and began writing in his notebook. The rest of the group entered through the gates.

"As always, I am never able to reason why they act so inappropriately." Neji said while looking away.

"Even you have to admit you got into the race after a while." Tenten chirped in.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Now that we're all here, let's go give our report to Hokage-sama." Gai said holding giving them a thumbs up.

"Um, Gai-sensei, shouldn't we attend to Kakashi-sensei first." Sakura interjected. Gai looked at Kakashi and agreed to take him to the hospital. Everybody sweat dropped as he took off running again.


	6. Chapter 6

Waking up to the sound of bird song, Naruto stretched and got out of bed. After taking a quick shower, she got dressed into her usual outfit with the exception of a dark green kimono with a navy blue obi. She had left the hospital to go to sleep for a couple of hours. Landing on a rooftop opposite the hospital, she noticed Tsunade with Sakura and Shizune walking toward the Hokage tower. She followed them as silently as she could, repressing her chakra.

They went into the tower and she cursed, but later smiled in relief when they walked out on to a balcony. She jumped on the level above them and caught a bit of their conversation.

"Tsunade-sama, we can organize other teammates for Team Kakashi but please withdraw Naruto from this mission. I understand that it's to find their former teammate but please reconsider." Shizune said with a hint of worry in her voice.

"What do you think she'd say to that?" Tsunade asked with amusement in her voice as she looked up at Naruto.

Naruto smirked and said out loud, "Find more teammates." She jumped down on the railing Tsunade was leaning on and said, "Ja." As she launched herself off into the air to begin her expedition. After a while one would see Naruto walking down the street muttering to herself.

"Well, who could be a suitable fit? They shouldn't get in the way, that's for sure. But if he's strong and has a terrible attitude, our team work would fall apart. He should also be good looking as I don't want to stare at an ugly face all day. This is tough." She muttered, not noticing somebody leaning on the tree she walked past.

"It's been a long time Naruto." Naruto turned around to see somebody step out of the trees shadow. He looked familiar to her, but she couldn't be too sure.

"Surely you should remember your comrades' faces. Why? Because you would surely hurt their feelings if they ever called out to you."

"That annoying way of speaking." Naruto muttered, and then finally it clicked, "Shino!" She exclaimed.

"You finally remember."

"No one's going to recognize you with your face covered up." Her rant was interrupted when something big landed in front of her causing dust to rise into the air. She covered her face and when everything cleared she turned to see a young man sitting on top of a dog.

"Shino, you're early." He called out.

"Kiba?" Naruto asked in incredulity. Kiba looked at her in shock and jumped down from his mount and walked up to Naruto. He sniffed her, "Oh! It really is you Naruto!" He exclaimed.

"That's how you recognized me?" She asked with put out expression on her face. Then finally the situation registered fully in her mind. She slammed her fist on the top of Kiba's head causing him to fall onto the ground tenderly rubbing his head.

"What was that for?" He demanded.

"You should never sniff a woman, dog-breath." Naruto said turning her back to him.

"DOBE!" Kiba screamed back. Then they were both interrupted by a gruff bark and Naruto turned to get a closer look at the animal. "Don't tell me that dog is-" Naruto couldn't finish her question.

"What are you talking about?" Kiba turned his head to look at the dog, "He's Akamaru of course."

"What?"

"Hey, you've become rather tall haven't you?" Kiba said comparing Naruto to himself.

"Forget about me, look at Akamaru." She said with a look of amazement on her face. "Do dogs really grow so big in such a short amount of time?"

Kiba turned around with a questioning look on his face, "Well, I guess it's because I've always been around him that I didn't notice."

Naruto shook her head in disbelief and turned around to speak to Shino, but his back was turned to them. _Geez, is he sulking?_ Naruto decided to leave him be for some time. Then she heard a gasp from behind her. Naruto turned to see Hinata standing near a corner. Naruto ran and immediately glomped Hinata.

"I haven't seen you in such a long time." Naruto pulled away to get a good look at Hinata who had fainted.

"Geez Naruto, you didn't have to suffocate her." Kiba said picking Hinata up and putting her against the tree.

"I underestimated my strength, okay? Relax why don't you? She'll be up again in about ten minutes. Anyway, can one of you please come along because we're going on a really important mission and we don't have enough members."

"You've got really bad timing. We got assigned a mission and we're just waiting for Kurenai-sensei."

"Fine! Some friends you guys turned out to be." Naruto huffed before walking away. Kiba turned to his other teammate, "Was it something I said?"

Naruto walked through the city looking for another team. Finally she spotted Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto called out. "We're going on a mission and I was wondering if you could please help me out. We need a new teammate and we're really desperate."

"I would love to help you out, but I'm an examiner for the Chuunin exams. It's really troublesome but there's nothing I can do for you. The Godaime is the one who assigned me this mission and who knows what she'd say if I backed out now." Naruto pouted. "You can pout all you want, but it's not going to change anything."

"Then I'll give you a hand." Naruto and Shikamaru turned to see Chouji holding out a bento. "Here Shikamaru, I brought your lunch."

"Chouji!" Naruto exclaimed in happiness.

"Are you sure you're free to say that Chouji?" Shikamaru asked. "Didn't you, Asuma-sensei and Ino get a new mission?"

"I can't abandon Naruto after hearing all of that." Chouji smiled, "I'll speak to Asuma-sensei about it."

"Thank you." Naruto said with a broad grin on her face.

"Even if you speak to Asuma-sensei, it's not going to work out. Tsunade-sama is pulling the strings here and I don't think she'll want to deal with the hassle of paperwork to change it."

"It can't hurt to try though." Chouji said with a gentle smile in his face. "Here's your lunch." Naruto grabbed the bento and thanked him.

"Hey Naruto, that's mine."Shikamaru said in an exasperated tone. Naruto handed it to him and observed Chouji eating another pack of chips. Feeling as if somebody was watching her, she activated the seal on her right shoulder, not that anybody noticed seeing as it was covered by her kimono. Noticing a flare of chakra, indicating ninjutsu, she activated the seal on her neck.

Sensing a fast approaching chakra signature, she shot a chain out of her back piercing a lion like creature and it was absorbed into the chain. Another chain was shot at another one on top of a building. It was also absorbed. Turning around she noticed a person sitting on the roof of a large building at the end of the road. Shikamaru knelt in front of her and Chouji put away his bag of chips.

"I've never seen him before, but that's definitely a leaf on his forehead protector." Naruto said, examining him closer.

"I'm not sure what he's after, but we need to capture him and let the interrogation squad deal with him. His hands settled in a hand seal and his shadow began to stretch. "We'll back you up. Go Naruto!" Shikamaru said. Naruto took off at high speeds. It seemed as if she was far one second and running up the building wall the next. Suddenly a large number of lion creatures shot out at her and in the blink of an eye, they were pierced by chains and they were absorbed.

She jumped up and a white blade launched out of her right hand. She grabbed its hilt and attempted a diagonal slice across his chest. The stranger managed to pull out his tanto to block her strike. Her blow caused his knee to buckle but he managed to keep that infuriatingly calm smile on his face. They were caught in a stalemate as Naruto didn't want to give him a chance to do anything else.

"You're kind of a pussy, aren't you?" He asked. Naruto's eyes hardened. "I had heard that you used to be disguised as a male. Dickless."

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth. Shifting his grip on his tanto, he managed to slide Naruto's blade to hit the roof. The blade cut through it with no problem. She guessed that he must have channeled chakra to strengthen his blade. He leapt away as he noticed a shadow sliding toward him.

He leapt high into the air and formed a hand seal. Ink began to surround him. "We'll meet again soon, Naruto-chan." He vanished. Naruto stared intently at the place the stranger had disappeared when she heard a voice call out behind her, "Hey Naruto, long time no see. You should have visited as soon as you got back." Naruto turned to see Ino waving at her. She waved back and Ino grabbed Chouji and disappeared down the street. She sat there for a while and then she noticed a bird hovering above her. She lifted an arm and it landed. She read it and it gave her directions of the meeting place for their new team. She felt relieved that she didn't have to go looking for a new teammate anymore. Using the shunshin no jutsu, she appeared at their meeting spot.

Sakura was already there. She looked around and saw the building they were meeting at was a large building with the leaf symbol in bold red emblazoned on it.

"Nobody else is here. Did Tsunade no baa-chan actually get new members for our team?" Naruto asked with a suspicious look on her face. Sakura smiled at her friends antics. "It will be alright. We're here earlier than we're supposed to meet, there's still some time before the time we were supposed to meet."

"Well, I hope they're not late all the time like Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said with a pout on her face. They both looked at the building when they heard footsteps from behind a pillar. Naruto pointed a finger, "Y-Y-You were the one who attacked me." She said as soon as they saw the stranger step out.

A brown haired man stepped out of the shadows next to him. "I'll be acting as Kakashi-san's replacement for the duration of the time he is in the hospital. Please call me Yamato-taichou." He stopped speaking when he noticed Naruto glaring vehemently at the stranger. Naruto pulled out a kunai she made from her chakra and the stranger put his hand on the hilt of his tanto.

"Since you're on the same team, it would be a problem if you two don't get along." Yamato said in a placating manner.

"Sorry about before. I was simply testing your strength since we were going to be on the same team." The stranger said.

"You didn't have to go so far." Naruto said, reabsorbing her kunai.

"Thanks to our little encounter, I learned you are a useless dickless pantywaist." He said with a smile on his face. Sakura looked at Naruto rearing her fist. _Shit!_ Sakura held her back as she ranted, "Who the hell do you think you are? Asshole!" She screamed at him.

"Naruto, he's supposed to be our teammate. We can't start fights with him." She looked at the other guy, "And, you're being a real jerk. If you keep acting like that, everybody will hate."

"Oh? But I really like ugly bitches like you." He said with the same infuriatingly calm smile on his face. Sakura lunged at him but was held back by Yamato.

"What was that you asshole?" Sakura screamed at him.

"Hey. Remember what you just said to Naruto-chan." Yamato reasoned and Sakura calmed down. "How about we all introduce ourselves?"

"I'm Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said not even looking at the new comer.

"I'm Haruno Sakura." Sakura said, looking like she wanted to beat the new comer into the ground.

"Hello. I'm Sai." Sai said with a smile on his face.

Yamato explained the mission parameters and told them to assemble at the gate in an hours' time. Everybody headed off to prepare. Naruto, having had had all her belongings moved to her new compound looked at the old photo of Team Seven. Shunshining in top of her roof, she ran through a dozen hand seal before slamming her hand on onto the wooden surface. Behind her house, a large tower made of her chains with mirrors facing inwards toward a rod of in the center appeared. In the North, South, East and West of her compound, large chains grew into the air bending inward.

This had been a new security device she had invented. Reflecting the sun's light and heat onto a focal point which multiplies it's intensity thanks to its many facets, she could generate a deadly amount of heat. Leaving a seal at the bottom of the tower to store the heat and transporter seals to transmit it to the four chains, in addition to the sensory seals she had placed all over the compound, she could use intense lasers to cut through her enemies before they reached her.

She shunshined to the gates meeting up with the other members of her team. Yamato turned around and they walked off. After a while of glaring, Naruto finally gave in and sighed. Looking ahead, she noticed the tension in Yamato's shoulders decrease.

"Since you guys appear cordial, I guess I can tell you that we're going to spend this evening at a hotel." Yamato said. Everybody's spirits lifted at that. After another while of walking they saw a building with a coffee cup sign on its wall. They went into the change rooms and folded their clothes. Wrapping towels around themselves, they headed to the onsen. Relaxing in the water, everybody silently enjoyed the feeling of warm water. When the sun's light began to disappear, they all stepped out of the water. They put on their robes and headed to their room. It appeared that Yamato had returned earlier than all of them.

When they opened their door, they were delighted to see a magnificent array of food on the table. Quickly sitting down, they all cried 'Itadakimasu', before digging in.

Expressing their gratitude, everyone decided to go to sleep after Yamato explained to them that they would be going through some training drills the following day.

Naruto woke up to see a fully dressed Sakura leave their room. Naruto looked stretched and got up. She got dressed and decided to put on her kimono seeing as it would help her camouflage. She went outside to see Sakura speaking to Sai. Noticing Yamato walking toward them, she decided that she would wait for them outside.

When they finally arrived they took off again. After a while, they saw a rock sign in the road. Yamato looked around before heading into the forest.

"Hurry up." Yamato called over his shoulder.

"Hai." Naruto and Sakura said before following him into the undergrowth. They walked until the sun set. Then they made sure that they wouldn't be detected. Naruto activated her sensor abilities and she confirmed that there were no humans in the vicinity for miles. They crawled through a bunch of fallen trees then finally stopped at a small clearing.

Yamato declared that they would stop there for the night. After some protests, he ran through a set of hand seals. **Mokuton: Shichuuka no Jutsu.** And a massive house was built before their eyes. Everyone was surprised seeing as only the Shodaime-Hokage was able to use mokuton jutsu.

They entered and took off their shoes before stepping onto the wooden floor. They walked up the stairs and entered a large room. Naruto immediately sat herself against the right wall. Sakura chose to prepare her spot along the shutters on the opposite wall. Sai put his bag down next to Naruto and unzipped it. Naruto appearing to have lost her cool grabbed Sai by the neck and picked him up then proceeded to throw across the room to the opposite side. Sakura shook her head at the both of them. After a short while of sitting in silence, Yamato walked in having discarded his vest. He sat down in the middle of the room.

"Everyone, gather around." Yamato said looking at each one, than his gaze stopped on Sakura. "And Sakura, I have a few questions to ask you about Sasori." Sakura nodded and knelt down in front of Yamato. Naruto and Sai followed her example by kneeling Next to Yamato.

"I wanted to talk to you about him yesterday, but I felt that yesterday should have been a day of relaxation and getting to know one another. Today, I need you tell me everything you know about him. You're the only one who knows him really well seeing as you fought him." Yamato continued.

"Hai." Sakura said.

"I have a file about him from Sunagakure. I need you to tell me about his personality, gestures, speech-pattern and mannerisms in as much detail as you can." Yamato said, "With my mokuton ninjutsu, I should be able to emulate the basic shape of his puppet Hiruko."

Sai interrupted the silence which had ensued, "Whatever the situation, one thing we do know, is that this spy should be strong."

Yamato gave them scenarios to run through, but the third scenario was what made Naruto slightly uneasy. It was where if capturing the spy and they were separated in battle, they would adopt the buddy system. Naruto was paired with Sai and Yamato himself was paired with Sakura.

They talked until the candle they were using, burnt itself out.

The next morning had Naruto and Sai waiting in ambush as they noticed a figure wearing a cloak with the hood covering his face. After a few tense seconds, both of them heard a jingle of a bell signifying the disguised Yamato heading toward the bridge. They looked to see an exact replica of Sasori trudging toward the shadowy figure. When the two figures met in the middle, the Sasori replica lifted a hand up and Naruto and Sai darted forward.

Naruto, being faster, reached the cloaked figure first. Launching fist at him and Naruto nicked his cloak instead. The figure turned around and began running into the forest. Throwing kunai, Naruto hit his cloak tearing it apart to reveal Yamato. The Sasori replica went up in a puff of smoke to reveal Sakura.

Yamato stopped running once he reached the forest. He turned around to engage Naruto but soon realized it to be a mistake. She had not worn her weights since they had left the village. She seemed to disappear and Yamato felt a heavy kick on his right arm and flew into a tree. He seemed to be out and an ink snake wrapped him up.

She looked to see it was a dud made of wood. Activating her sensor abilities, she rushed in the direction she sensed Yamato was waiting. She noticed Sai already running there. She tore past him and having the element of surprise, she stopped a couple of trees from his location. She launched chains out of her back and they dug through the ground. Soon she sensed that they had caught him and she followed them to him. Yamato sweat dropped as he saw she hadn't even broken a sweat.

The chain connected to her back dissipated as another set popped out of her arm as she touched his forehead with her left index finger. The chains wrapping around him formed a spiky ball making sure that his head was covered. There were a few gaps which he could see through, but that was it. Naruto began to slowly kick Yamato back to the bridge.

"Naruto, this really isn't necessary."

"It's your fault for sticking me with a jerk, Yamato-taichou." Naruto said with a pout. They met up with Sai who still had his fake smile plastered on his face. They walked back to the bridge and the chains forming Yamato's prison, retracted back into Naruto's body leaving him to fall on his face. _Women, geez._

"Good job on catching me, Naruto." Yamato said. _Her training reports mentioned nothing of these abilities. To think that she would be of this level already._

"Okay, that does it for the simulation." Yamato said before putting his hands together in a hand seal and the bridge popped into smoke. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Naruto started walking toward their destination. The others soon followed after noticing that she wasn't going to wait for them.

For that night, Yamato created another house using his mokuton. This time, Naruto decided to sleep by the shutters. Soon everybody was asleep. Naruto stared at the moon for a while before closing the shutters and going to sleep.

The following morning, they all woke up early and they headed off toward the bridge. After another hour of walking, Yamato decided to get set up before they reached the bridge.

"Yamato-taichou, to make your disguise more believable, I can create a chain in the same fashion as Hiruko's and I can control it so you can hold your disguise longer if need be." Naruto said and Yamato nodded before stepping into the wooden construct. Naruto slammed her hands together and then slowly but surely a chain grew out if her abdomen similar to Sasori's. The only difference was that it had double edges. It slipped under the Akatsuki cloak and settled without disturbing the cloak.

Naruto activated her sensor abilities and sensed the area. She noticed a far away signature headed toward them but nothing else.

"There's no one in the vicinity of the bridge, but the spy is headed this way. He'll be here soon." Naruto said. Yamato nodded and separated from them, taking the road. He slowly trudged toward the bridge. Naruto, Sakura and Sai walked until they reached a bunch of bushes. They knelt down but then the wind blew stronger. Naruto sensed a large chakra signature next to the smaller one. She frowned. Sakura got up to get closer followed by the other two. They reached a small outcropping of rock before kneeling down and waiting. Naruto felt him very close and signaled the others that there would be no communication in words, from now on. They saw a cloaked figure walk onto the bridge and they heard the tell tale sign of bells jingling. 'Sasori' trudged onto the bridge toward the spy.

"It's good to see you again, Sasori-sama." The spy spoke up and reached up to his hood pulling it back enough to reveal Kabuto. "It's been five years, hasn't it?" She along with the others stiffened at seeing his face. Naruto began to grow more concerned as she noticed the larger chakra signature already close enough that she should already be able to see the person in the tree line.

"Were you followed?" Yamato asked in Sasori's voice. Kabuto looked back. "No, we're fine." He said turning back to face 'Sasori'.

"Tell me about Uchiha Sasuke and Orochimaru's hideouts."

"He switches from one hideout to the next every week to keep his whereabouts hidden. Of course he has them in many different countries, not just the sound. He makes use of many different methods of travel when switching his location, so tracking him isn't easy."

"Where is he now?"

"He's currently concealed on an island hidden in a northern lake. He'll be moving in three days. Uchiha Sasuke is there as well. By the way-" he was interrupted when he heard rustling behind him. After a short while a rabbit popped up and ran off into the bushes. Kabuto turned back to Yamato, "About the matter you asked me to look into, the body Orochimaru transformed out of had protective wards surrounding it, so I was unable to obtain the cell samples you requested."

"I see." Kabuto's eyes narrowed slightly at this.

"If you please, hand the item over to me. I can't afford to stay here any longer." Kabuto held his hand out. "I'll be killed if he finds out I'm here with you."

"Fine." Naruto took the tense silence between the two as an emergency signal and she launched the chain she had under the cloak and wrapped it around Kabuto. He appeared shocked about this turn of events then Orochimaru appeared behind Kabuto. While coiled around Kabuto, the end of the chain went to pierce Orochimaru but he leapt away easily. The chain dragged Kabuto next to Yamato. Everybody tensed for battle.

"Thank you, Sasori-sama. If you hadn't intervened I would have died." Kabuto said turning a worried look to Sasori. "You can let me go now, we can fight him together."

Naruto decided not to do so, he was too much of an unknown variable to let loose.

"That boy you sent me, he is truly a blessing. I used to run through hundreds of test subjects for one technique but thanks to his medical abilities, I can use the same subject over and over. Understandable seeing as I have recently begun running out of them." Orochimaru said with a smirk on his face. Kabuto somehow managed to escape his restraints and using a chakra scalpel, cut through the Hiruko puppet. Naruto's eyes widened at this seeing as very few people could escape her chains. Yamato leapt out and Orochimaru held out his arm, **Sen'ei Tajashu** before snakes slipped out from his sleeves headed for Yamato.

The wrapped around his body and as a snake around his neck bit him, he turned into wood. Yamato appeared a good distance from them. When the snakes retracted, they dropped the dud in front of Orochimaru.

"A mokuton replacement? I see, you must be-" He trailed off with a smirk.

"Orochimaru-sama, is that Sasori's real body?" Kabuto asked out loud.

"No, it's not. Kabuto, don't tell me that after being a spy for Sasori so long, you haven't seen his real body."

"He was always hidden in his puppet. It's bit creepy if you ask me." Kabuto said in an offhand manner.

"Kabuto, what's going on here? You were supposed to be an Akatsuki spy." Yamato said to Kabuto. "You were supposed to be trapped in Sasori's technique."

"Orochimaru-sama dispelled that technique a long time ago."

"So you switched sides. Is Orochimaru controlling you now?"

"Not at all. I just happen to sympathize with Orochimaru-sama's cause. By the way, who are you? We were planning on killing Sasori today but it appears things have gone awry."

"Kabuto, I'll tell you all about him later." Orochimaru interjected. "Now then, why don't you call out the three little rats hiding behind you?"

A flash of surprise crossed onto Yamato's face but he signaled for them to reveal themselves. They looked at each other and nodded before leaping out in front of Yamato.

Orochimaru looked at them. "A face I've seen before and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki if I'm not mistaken. I guess we can stick around to play a bit." Orochimaru smiled in anticipation.

Seal began to spread along her spine and legs. Nobody could see this but they could see blue chakra begin to flow from her and cover her entire body. White plates of armour began to grow on her chest, arms and shins. Seals appeared on them and her hair was encased in a white substance before solidifying in a spiky fashion (think sonic or shadow).

"We can't just give him to you Naruto-chan. Sasuke-kun came to us of his own free will. You got too attached to him. Grow up and let go of the past." As Kabuto said this a face guard similar to Yamato's appeared.

"Shut your mouth four eyes. I'm sick of your attitude." Sakura said with a scowl on her face. "You have no idea how Naruto feels."

"If you want to find out where Sasuke-kun is so badly, you're going to have to force it out of me." Orochimaru said with a sinister expression. "If you can, that is." Naruto couldn't stand his taunting anymore and with speed that it seemed she'd teleported; she punched him in the face with all her might causing him to fly back and tear a path into the trees. She crouched, waiting to see if he would get up. She turned to see Kabuto smiling at her.

"Your power has increased Naruto-chan. It appears you don't need the Kyuubi's power after all." Naruto glared at Kabuto and was about to launch herself at Kabuto but then she heard footsteps headed toward her. Orochimaru came walking out of the tree line looking like he'd just recently gone for a swim.

He stopped for a short while, "You've become quite the powerhouse, haven't you Naruto-chan?" He looked at Yamato before continuing forward. "So that's why they placed you in charge of her. It appears my experiments benefitted Konoha after all." Orochimaru then continued on to explain about his experiments on sixty infants.

"I see, so we'll be able to see how your experiment turned out." Kabuto said.

"I'd be more interested in seeing how strong my Sasuke-kun has grown by pitting him against Naruto-chan."

"He doesn't belong to you!" Naruto added killing intent to her words. "Don't speak about him like he's some toy you own!" With this said, the chakra surrounding her began to condense then finally it split into five different metal balls which were then attached to Naruto via chains. Orochimaru licked his lips at the sight. "Intriguing."

Naruto sent a massive pulse of condensed chakra causing the bridge to collapse. Sakura was hit by the wave and she flew into a tree and lay crumpled on the forest floor whereas the other ninja had leapt away. A chain with a ball attached to it shot at Orochimaru who was standing near the tree line. He leapt away and it went crashing into a tree. The sphere increased in size and lodged into place. Naruto was pulled up. Not taking any unnecessary risks, Orochimaru turned around and leapt into the tree tops.

Sai created a bird of ink and flew into the air to monitor the situation. Orochimaru kept dodging the spheres as they came at him. Finally having had enough, Naruto swung them into the air and as they were about to hit the ground, they morphed and each one became bigger than Gamakichi and Gamatatsu put together. They hit the ground and a tremendous amount of dust was thrown into the air along with debris which blew Sai, higher into the air. A large crater resulted from it and Orochimaru leapt back onto a tree with an arm and leg missing. He stared on with amused glee, "Well, well. Is that all there is to your power?" Orochimaru taunted before his mouth opened wide and another body crawled out of it. "After all this time, you're still inferior to Sasuke-kun."

Having had enough seals appeared over her entire body and a chakra burst which could rival a bijuu spread through the land making an even larger crater. When the dust cleared Orochimaru was lying on the ground, "This child, intrigues me to no end." He said with a sinister smirk on his face.

When Yamato's moku-bunshin ended up at the scene, it was surprised to see a white replica of the Kyuubi's skeleton, as big as a house. In between the gaps, a dense blue chakra could be seen. It roared at Orochimaru sending him flying back and the winds appeared to cut him along his limbs. Orochimaru started laughing as he landed back onto the ground further away. He opened his mouth and a large wave of snakes big enough to tower over Naruto exploded out of it. The snakes opened their mouths and blades slid their way out.

The Kyuubi replica opened its mouth and from its depths a massive explosion emitted out of it. The snakes were obliterated and this attack caused another shock wave which shook the nearby forested area. The replica crouched before launching itself forward at speeds which should have been impossible for something its size. Orochimaru did not have enough time as he was picked up in its crushing jaws and thrown across the crater into the opposing wall. A stream of focused chakra launched itself where his body lay and his legs were cut off as it ran across. The body started to disintegrate but Orochimaru managed to escape through regurgitating another body again.

His lower half became serpentine as he flew across the crater headed straight for the replica. Orochimaru launched a powerful punch at the structure, making it slide back a bit but it retaliated with a quick swipe of the paw slicing Orochimaru in half. Orochimaru's halves had snakes spewing out of them then they intertwined and Orochimaru became whole again. His legs reformed. Orochimaru now had a serious expression.

After a while of staring each other down, Naruto finally decided to end it. Outside, it appeared like the replica had a large hollow sphere grow out of its snout. Then a large amount of condensed chakra flowed into the sphere and it removed itself. It closed and began to decrease in size.

_This is bad. Even I would die from being hit with that amount of decreased chakra._ Orochimaru leapt away until his back was to the crater wall. Not wasting anytime, Naruto launched it at Orochimaru at high speeds. Orochimaru bit his thumbs and slammed his hands on the ground. Seals appeared on the ground. **Sanjuu Rashoumon,** Orochimaru called out then three large walls with oni faces on them erupted from the ground. The speeding 'bullet' impacted with the Rashoumon before exploding and ripping through them before blowing Orochimaru away.

When the dust had settled, through the chakra eyes, Naruto viewed Orochimaru with his head stuck in the ground and his limbs at odd angles in the new trench which had been dug due to the chakra blast. A sword appeared and attempted to pierce the structure to no avail, because even the Kusanagi cannot cut through chakra. Orochimaru's head came out of the ground. Naruto dissolved her structure and leapt to the base of Orochimaru's neck. Seeing this Orochimaru regurgitated another body.

Naruto stopped and looked at him, panting heavily. After catching her breath she declared, "I'll end it with this!" Chains larger than Orochimaru could have imagined shot out of her back and closed off the crater. Seals began to appear on the ground and on the chains above. Everything was quiet when suddenly fireballs and wind attacks appeared along the chains and blasted at him. After a minute long attack, Naruto couldn't fight her exhaustion anymore. She collapsed thinking it was over. Sadly, even though her attack had been strong enough to gouge an impossibly deep hole, Orochimaru had managed to evade it by stretching his neck through a gap and regurgitated a body outside of it. When he saw the destructive result of her jutsu, he couldn't help the shudder of excitement which had coursed through his body, but he was hit with a mild case of exhaustion as Sai walked up to him, seeing him panting.

"I work for Danzou-sama. I am not your enemy. There's something I need to discuss with you." Sai said with a fake smile on his face.

"Danzou, that old relic? He's still breathing? What did you want to discuss?" Orochimaru asked with a calculative look on his face.

"I have a message from Danzou-sama for you Orochimaru." The rest of his speech was interrupted when Orochimaru launched Kusanagi at him, piercing him through his abdomen. Sai's eyes widened in shock before he revealed himself to be an ink-bunshin.

The Kusanagi transformed into a snake and slithered back to Orochimaru. "You have no manners at all. When speaking to somebody above you, etiquette dictates you do it in person."

Sai's head popped out of the ground and his body soon followed. He spoke to Orochimaru in regards to his failed mission to destroy Konoha and what Danzou wanted done.

"I admit, it does sound intriguing." Orochimaru said with sadistic smirk on his face. "So, what do you have for me?"

Sai reached into his bag and began rummaging through it. Kabuto appeared behind him and pushed him to the ground. After finding out it was a misunderstanding of intentions, they got ready to set out.

"Are you ready Sai? Or whatever your name is." Sai nodded. "Good. Then pick that girl up and we'll be on our way."

Sai walked over to Naruto and they departed. The moku-bunshin informed Yamato of the turn of events. He waited for a while until Sakura had healed herself sufficiently before they departed to follow Orochimaru's party.

In order to slow the moku-bunshin down, Kabuto summoned a corpse and transformed it to look like Sai before dumping it in the woods. A few minutes later, the moku-bunshin found this sight and cut the body loose from where it was hanging. This set of traps which it avoided adeptly.

Yamato had to stop because the injury Sakura sustained began to act up again.

A little while ahead, Orochimaru was waiting as Kabuto cleaned his instruments by a river. They moved on again until they reached a rock outcropping which split open upon their arrival.

"Kabuto, I want you to take her and imbue her with 'M' DNA." Orochimaru said walking down the passageway.

"But, Orochimaru-sama. She'd probably die."

"Probably, but the Kyuubi might be just what she needs to survive." Orochimaru disappeared into the shadows. They followed Orochimaru until the passage way gave way to a large room with multiple tunnels branching off from it. A figure was sitting on a bunch of stairs on the other end. He opened his eyes to reveal the Sharingan.

"You're late." He called out. "You promised to teach me a new technique this afternoon, Orochimaru."

"Again with that rude tone." Kabuto said with a frown.

"Take it easy, I brought presents to make it up to you" Orochimaru glanced behind him. "They are Konoha shinobi. I thought you could spend some time reminiscing about the good old days in the village." Sasuke's gaze turned to Sai, but not before his eyes widened slightly at who Kabuto was carrying. It might have been for a short while, but he remembered how his former rival had looked at the valley of the end.

Sai smiled, "Hi there. My name is Sai. You must be Uchiha Sasuke-kun. I-"

"Get lost." Sasuke said impassively.

"Even if I smile, I guess I'm just easy to hate. Naruto-chan over there hated me the first time we met." Sasuke's eyes darted over to the unconscious girl. "Although between the two of us, I think we'll get along better."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he met Sai's gaze. Sai stumbled and fell over. He seemed to contemplate what the liquid on his face was after their encounter. Orochimaru looked down at Sai, "I wouldn't bother Sasuke-kun if I was you. His temper is even worse than mine." 

"I've got nothing more to say to this loser." Sasuke stood up, "Train me now, Orochimaru."

Sai got up off the floor. "I've heard a lot about from Naruto-chan." Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously. "She's been trying to find you for the last three years." Sasuke's locked onto the prone body in Kabuto's arms. "Yes. I remember her. Let's go training Orochimaru." He began to walk away.

"Naruto-chan truly thinks of you as a brother. That's what Sakura-chan told me." Sasuke finally turned his face into the light.

"I only have one living relative left. I am going to kill him." Sasuke turned around and shunshined in a gale of wind.

"Alright I'll be going. Kabuto, you know what to do."Orochimaru left them through a tunnel. Kabuto took Sai to a room and left once he had put his bag down. Kabuto took Naruto to a laboratory and laid her down on an examination table. Naruto opened her eyes narrowly but she still couldn't move due to chakra exhaustion. He walked over to a coffin and seemed to cut something out of it. He carried the object and he ran it through some procedures. After a while, he carried a light pink liquid in a needle. He injected it into Naruto. It appeared that nothing happened but soon her body began to convulse. A red chakra began to creep over her body and it covered her.

After some observation, Kabuto felt it safe to leave her for a while. Naruto's convulsion died down but the cloak still remained.

After what seemed like an eternity of pain to Naruto she opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that she had become aware of the room and how everything was situated almost immediately. She tried to move but her body hurt like hell, so she remained still for a while. Reminiscing a while, she remembered a conversation she had with Sai after their simulation. He had asked her why she cared so much for somebody who cared so little for her. Instead of ignoring him as he was used to, Naruto turned around and smiled gently at him, Sai's heart sped up and he didn't realize why. She had responded that Sasuke was the first bond she had made with somebody her own age.

Slowly, she activated her Sōzō Saisei and an audible hiss could be heard coming from her body. She felt a shake rock through the place. She sat up and slid her legs over the side. She realized she was too weak to stand as of yet, so she prepared herself for any attack that would come her way.

The door opened and Sai walked in. "I was told to retrieve you by Yamato. We managed to capture Kabuto. Come on. We have to find Sasuke-kun." He started walking away. Naruto grumbled about insensitive jerks as she followed, groaning slightly from aching muscles. Soon after, they decided to take a break. After breaking down Sai's emotional barrier he began to draw the final picture in his book. Naruto activated her sensory abilities and she noticed that there were very few chakra signatures in the hide out. She sensed Orochimaru's chakra headed toward her and Sai.

"Sai, I'm going to need you to continue looking for Sasuke. I have a snake I need to deal with." Sai stared at her for a while before nodding and taking off. She heard laughter coming out of the shadows as she saw Orochimaru step forward.

"Impressive, you were able to sense me even after I suppressed my chakra. Perhaps you and my little Karin have more in common than I knew."

"Am I supposed to know who that is? Cut the crap Orochimaru and tell me where Sasuke is." Naruto said, creating a blade in her hand. Orochimaru put his arm up. **Sen'ei Jashu**. Snakes poured out of his sleeves. Naruto began dancing through them as she cut their heads off headed for Orochimaru. She saw him leap back before he even did so. She put on a burst of speed and she caught him with a punch just as she landed. He went down the passageway and Naruto leapt back observing him. She saw a blue fog which she guessed to be Chakra die down then increased. She figured he had shed another body.

"It appears my gift has benefitted you after all Naruto-chan." Naruto furrowed her brow in confusion. "You mean you haven't noticed? When you have time look in the mirror and continuously channel chakra to your eyes."

Sakura and Yamato appeared beside Naruto as she pointed her blade at Orochimaru.

"Please do me a favour and continue killing Akatsuki for me. Now, if you'll excuse, I have business to attend to with that Sai boy." Orochimaru disappeared in a swirl of wind.

They quickly rummaged through Sai's bag; finding out his mission was to assassinate Sasuke. Naruto remembered something about the room she was in. "You guys go ahead and find Sai. I'll catch up soon. I have something to do." Yamato and Sakura nodded before running in the direction Naruto indicated Sai had run. Naruto ran back to the laboratory and looked at the coffin. She tried to open it but it wouldn't open with her using a fraction of her strength. Finally, she decided to give up as she didn't want to destroy its contents.

Noticing a small book, she saw the words 'Project M'. She opened it and her eyes widened as she saw its contents. Putting it into one of her pouches, she realized her eyes were draining chakra. She cut off the excess amounts and her vision returned to normal.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the room she was currently in. Fearing the worst, she used a technique she hadn't used for some time. She used the Hiraishin to teleport to Sai. She had placed the formula marker on him the first night they had slept in the wooden house created by Yamato. It was when she grabbed Sai and threw him across the room. It had slid silently across his skin to his spine between his shoulder blades where his clothes would serve as a marker.

Appearing next to a frozen Sakura and a crouching Sai, Naruto looked up at the destroyed ceiling to see what they were staring at. Her eyes widened when she saw Sasuke standing on the top of the earth above. **(You know what he wears)**

"Sasuke." Naruto murmured.

"Naruto?" Sasuke wondered aloud in a bored tone. "I assume Kakashi's with you as well."

"Sorry, I'm not Kakashi-san." Yamato called out stepping forward. "I came here in his stead. And the new Team Kakashi is taking you back to Konoha."

Sasuke stared at each of them for a while. "Team Kakashi, huh?" He murmured to himself.

Sakura noticed Sai pull out his tanto and point it at Sasuke. "Sai! I knew it! You're-"

She was interrupted by Sasuke. "So he's supposed to be my replacement? Another loser joins the ranks. He said something about protecting my bond with Naruto." Sakura looked at Sai in shock.

"I don't care about my orders anymore. I think Naruto-chan can help me discover my emotions. If it means bringing you back to Konoha, so be it." Sai proclaimed, shocking Naruto and Sakura. Naruto noticed Sasuke's hand clench almost imperceptibly at his side.

"I have a bond of hatred with my brother, Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke said as a sinister air entered his words. Silence descended on the group. "Other bonds just confuse you, and blind you to your greatest goals and your true ambitions."

"Then why didn't you kill me?" Naruto screamed at him.

"The reason is simple. The idea of doing what _**he**_ did to become more powerful made me sick."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't owe you any explanations. All I'll tell you about back then is that I spared your life on a whim." At speeds that should have been impossible, Sasuke landed next to Naruto. Her chains acted on instinct and a large hammer connected to a chain launched itself out of her chest and hit Sasuke making him fly back. Sasuke back flipped and landed on the wall using chakra to stick to it.

Everybody was surprised as they didn't see Sasuke move until he was crouching on the wall and a hammer reared next to Naruto supported by a chain which chinked against the ground as the hammer swayed.

"I spared your life on a whim, now I will kill you on a whim." He pulled out his chokuto. He appeared next to Naruto but her chain and hammer dissipated as she coughed and covered her mouth. Through the gaps of her fingers, blood could be seen pouring onto the ground. Sai darted in and grabbed Sasuke's wrist.

"**Chidori Nagashi**." An electric current spread across Sasuke's body and into the surrounding area effectively stunning Naruto and Sai as they flew away from him. Sakura saw this and charged chakra into her fist as she ran toward Sasuke. Yamato saw Sasuke's eyes held no emotion. He charged forward to intercept the blade with a kunai, however it cut through his kunai like butter and Sasuke pierced his shoulder and pinned him against some rubble. _This is bad. My body is becoming numb. Is he running a Chidori down the blade? I see. Not only does that increase its sharpness to the max. It also numbs the area it cuts._

The moku-bunshin left to guard Kabuto dispelled as Yamato's chakra was disrupted.

Sasuke turned his gaze to see Naruto get up slowly. Her eyes were closed as she crouched and ran through some hand seals. His eyes widened when rods made of blades made their way out of Naruto's body. They grew even under her feet as they made a spiky ball, encasing her. It started moving slowly toward him and he jumped back not sure of this new construct. He guessed from its size that it wouldn't be fast but it would be dangerous. Suddenly it began spinning and slowly digging into the ground when it launched itself at him. Sasuke just dodged but it wasn't over yet as chains erupted and they cut his shirt as he dodged. Sasuke managed to find an opening before jumping onto the perimeter of the hole.

"Sasuke, why don't you get it?" Naruto's voice resonated from the sphere.

"You're still naive Naruto. Exacting my revenge means everything to me. I'll do anything to achieve that."

"Well then. I guess there's nothing more which can be done for you." Defeat entered Naruto's voice as the sphere launched upward high into the air and spun, releasing its spikes trying to impale Sasuke as he dodged. Looking around himself, he noticed seals on the spikes but they made his eyes hurt to look at as he couldn't seem to remember what they looked like when he looked away from them. He looked up to see the ball unravel into beams and reabsorbed into Naruto.

Naruto landed on the blunt end of one of her spikes. She looked sadly at her former friend. "In my eyes now, you're a rogue shinobi who deserted his village and poses a danger to my home." She steeled her gaze. She didn't really mean those words, but she had to keep a front of strength in front of him.

Sasuke didn't know why, but those words made his heart constrict painfully.

Naruto decided to beat him into submission rather than try to capture him. She sensed where he was and immediately teleported to the marker behind him. She theorized that if he couldn't see her, she had the advantage. She kicked out at him with enough strength to break bones. She hit him on the side but didn't hear bones breaking. She cursed Orochimaru because she guessed one of his experiments granted Sasuke denser bones. She teleported to the marker he was sailing to and kicked him back the way he'd come. She teleported a good time before he would reach the marker and jumped up into the air. She stretched out her leg and as about to bring it down on him hard, when he used his blade to hook him in the ground. Her leg just missed as the kick cause the ground under them to collapse.

Naruto leapt back to her teammates and Sakura landed on the new perimeter of the hole.

"I've had it with all of you." He managed to say that whilst composed even though on the inside he had been surprised at Naruto's strength. He ran through a set of hand seals and Naruto sensed his body get coated in chakra as it seemed to start flowing into the sky through his raised arm. Naruto noticed energy closing in from the air but Sasuke's jutsu was stopped when Orochimaru grabbed his hand.

"You are not using that jutsu, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru said with a straight face and clear voice.

"Beat it." Sasuke said dismissively.

"Come now. You're still using such foul language with Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto interjected as he shunshined into the scene.

"I see no reason to stop." Sasuke responded.

"You know Akatsuki is up to, don't you?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed at this. Kabuto's gaze locked onto the Konoha team below them. "That's why we want Konoha to help annihilate them. Even if it's just one. More Akatsuki members means that there is a higher chance of one them interfering, making it harder to exact your revenge, right?"

Sasuke turned his head in Kabuto's direction, "That's pathetic."

"It's an opportunity to increase your chances, even if only by 1%. Agreed?" Kabuto finished in a calm voice. Sasuke turned to look at the people below him. His gaze lingered on Naruto before he lowered his arm.

"Let's go." Orochimaru said in an authorative tone. Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other for a while, both with blank expressions on their faces. Orochimaru, Sasuke and Kabuto were distorted as flames began to eat them from the bottom up. Finally they vanished completely.

Naruto let the tears which had threatened to fall, fall. _I'm weak_. She knelt down and she cried until she was hacked with deep bloody rattling coughs. She coughed and began feeling dizzy until she past out.


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto woke up after a nightmare filled with a beast tearing through a temple of some kind. Its mere presence had terrified her, even if it was a dream. Tsunade walked into her room.

"Naruto, we'll be discharging you today. You had slightly warped cells within your blood vessels causing them to rupture. The cause of them is unknown, but what we do know is that they have been eliminated."

"Thank you, baa-chan. Is there anything else which is required of me?"

"Ah yes, Kakashi stated that you should meet him downstairs seeing as he has some new training he wants you to go through before your next mission."

With an exclamation of excitement Naruto quickly got dressed seeing as her clothing was neatly folded next to her. She decided to keep the kimono seeing as it served greatly to camouflage her. She met up with her sensei at the entrance, and the two headed to a training ground out of the way for most shinobi. Yamato was already there waiting for them. Kakashi turned to his student. "The aim of this training is to create your own ultimate ninjutsu. One that far surpasses the Rasengan. Chakra nature and shape manipulation are essential for this process to take place."

Naruto nodded her head. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise at her. Naruto smirked and asked, "What did you think I was doing in Tsunade-shishou's library? The kage bunshin work wonders for my knowledge."

"You've already mastered shape manipulation, thanks to your training for the Rasengan." Naruto nodded. "Now we just need to work on your nature manipulation."

Kakashi pulled out some cards. "We'll find out your chakra nature with these. I'm guessing I don't have to tell you about the different forms the paper will take." Naruto shook her head at this. Kakashi handed her one card and when she channeled chakra he was surprised to see it get cut into four and the four sections showed the other element representations.

"How?"

"I think this is why Kaka-sensei." Naruto said channeling chakra to her eyes until she saw the world in black and white. To Kakashi it looked like Naruto's eyes evolved into a mature Sharingan, into what appeared to be the Mangekyou Sharingan then finally they turned purple with concentric rings around them."

"Naruto, when did this-"

"Kabuto imbued DNA from Uchiha Madara into my body." Naruto pulled out the book she had taken from Orochimaru's hideout. "This book holds information of what they were doing and there are some things which I believe I can learn from it. For now, I want to keep it quiet seeing as I don't know how the councilors would react." Kakashi nodded at this information. If the councilors got wind of this, they'd probably confine Naruto to the village. Their reasoning would most likely be that she was too valuable to risk outside the gates.

"Anyway, let's start with one element for now. How about we pick wind since it would most likely be the best since you're going against strong foes and you need an offensive element." Naruto nodded but face faulted when she heard what exercise she had to do in order to get the idea.

Not wasting any more time, Naruto summoned an army of kage bunshin and they immediately got to work. Less than an hour later, one of her kage bunshin cried out in excitement.

"I did it! I did it!" She yelled in triumph before she was hit over the head by another kage bunshin. She dispelled and everybody else got the idea. They thought of two very thin and sharp sides and they brought them together to create a very sharp blade. They all exclaimed before dispelling in groups. They had learnt from their past mistakes.

Yamato stepped forward and created a waterfall. "Your next phase of training begins here. You have to cut this water in half." Naruto stared at him in disbelief before jumping up onto the wooden platform Yamato had created for her. Through her Rin'negan, as she'd read from the book, she was able to see herself run her chakra along the width of the waterfall. Splitting it, she made it as thin as chakra wire and gave it a sharp edge. She brought them together and saw chakra begin swirling around the blade.

Kakashi's and Yamato's eyes widened as they felt heavy winds start to emit from Naruto.

Naruto extended her blade and it easily cut through the waterfall extending through the water and she halted it when it began to slice through the rock. She held it there.

Yamato and Kakashi had their heads bowed. _She makes it look so easy._

Naruto deactivated her eyes and looked down at her senseis."Does this mean I pass?" She asked with a triumphant grin on her face.

"No." Kakashi said with an eye smile. "You need to combine it with your Rasengan." Naruto's head hung at this but she summoned forth a Rasengan in her hand. She activated her Sharingan and was shocked again at how clear everything was. She had experienced this with her Rin'negan but that was in shades of grey. It was totally different seeing things in the crisp colours of life. Naruto started adding her wind chakra to it. A screeching sound began filling the clearing. Naruto added more and it began to fan out into the shape of a shruiken. When Naruto had added enough, she stopped as anymore would have made her attack unstable. She held up her arm and showed off her accomplishment to Kakashi and Yamato.

They shook their heads as she began to do a victory dance. Kakashi called up at her. "Naruto, from now on you'll be working on being able to use your wind chakra on a whim. You can combine it to with a weapon to make the sharpest blade around. From what I understand about your fight with Sasuke, he ran lighting chakra through his blade, correct?" Naruto nodded. "Using wind chakra, you can gain the advantage, seeing as lightning is weak against wind."

Naruto nodded and started focusing on changing her chakra into wind chakra. After a couple of minutes, she got frustrated and summoned another army of shadow clones. They began focusing their chakra, watching through their Sharingan as their wind chakra began to collect in their hands. Finally one of the clones got frustrated and called out, "Fuuton: Battle Royal! We fight using wind chakra and weapons, that's it." They all exclaimed in agreement and started fighting amongst each other.

The original Naruto shook her head at them before leaping into the tree top to observe. "Geez, am I really like that?" The clones started dispelling and their fighting got better. When there were very few clones left, they were launching wind blades and their weapons were cutting through rocks. Their hands were able to pierce right through rocks and finally they all dispelled after going into a bunch and a clone released wind chakra around her body to protect herself but she was hit before the technique managed to take effect properly.

With all the experience returned to her, she felt confident that she was proficient in wind chakra.

Sakura walked out of the tree line toward them. "Tsunade-sama has assigned us another mission; we are to meet at the front gate within half an hour." They nodded before departing. Naruto returned to her house, but she couldn't get over how eerily lonely the compound seemed.

After making sure everything was still in order, Naruto changed her green kimono into a red one with a yellow obi. She bunched her hair and using a senbon, she held it up in a bun with two strands framing her face. She shunshined to the gate to see Sakura talking with Asuma's team. Naruto had been informed that their group had temporarily been named Team Yamato seeing as Kakashi had another mission. Konohamaru walked up to them and showed off the cat they'd caught for the seventh time.

"Good luck Uncle Asuma." He said before walking away.

"Yosh! Team Yamato, head out." Naruto said before jogging out the gates, followed by Sakura and Sai. Yamato followed shortly after exchanging words with Asuma. After a while of walking, Yamato turned to Naruto. "Naruto, Kakashi-san told me to get you working on your nature manipulation again." Sai and Sakura looked at Naruto in awe. "He said to take a leaf and try to cement it using your chakra. This is to help with your earth chakra manipulation seeing as you need a defensive element." Naruto nodded before reaching up whilst walking and grabbed a leaf. She knew how cement looked and felt whilst still wet, so she tried to mould her chakra in order to recreate its effect and after it entered the leaf, she made it solid. The leaf in her hand turned to dust. Having the Rin'negan in your body truly made life easier seeing as it helped you master all nature manipulations.

Then she decided to do something she knew she probably shouldn't, but she couldn't resist. She touched a tree next to her and did the same thing, she was surprised to see it cement all over. She whistled and walked faster catching up to her teammates. Getting tired of walking, she channeled her chakra to her feet and made it loosen the earth. A slab of rock rose from under her feet and she channeled more chakra in front of her and she slid effortlessly forward. Changing direction, she slid circles around her teammates. "Yamato-taichou, does this mean I pass?"

"How? It took me years to reach that that level." Yamato said with a vein popping through his faceguard.

"Just awesome I guess." Naruto said with a cheeky grin. Yamato's face turned blank as he looked at Naruto. She froze at the terrifying visage before her. "Stop showing off." 'It' said with a hollow voice. Naruto nodded and immediately the slab sunk into the ground. They continued walking until the night fell.

Yamato debriefed them of the situation they were going to enter. Apparently, a group of bandits had raided some tombs within the vicinity of the Fire Temple. Naruto froze at hearing the word temple and a shiver of premonition ran down her spine.

The next day was spent entirely on walking to the rendezvous point. They reached it at night fall. Naruto heard a rustling and saw something white flash through the trees. "Ghost!" She screamed.

"Naruto, keep it down." Yamato interjected.

"But, but, but-"

"No buts. We're supposed to be meeting our delegates here." Naruto huffed and sat next to Sakura. She realized that her kimono was meant to keep heat out and began shivering slightly. Sai glanced at her. _Is she scared? Maybe it's from earlier._

After some time, Yamato stood up. "I think I'm going to go ahead and try to find them. Perhaps they ran into some trouble." Sakura stood up as well. "I'll go with you. Naruto, you and Sai remain here in case we miss them."

"But-" Naruto began.

"I'll be by Naruto's side." Sai interjected. Sakura and Yamato headed out.

Naruto sweat dropped as she saw Sai staring at her with that smile of his on his face. She was slightly startled when an owl flew out from the tree directly behind her. _Today is just too creepy._ "Stop staring at me." Naruto said looking away from him.

Sai pulled out a book and began reading. After reading its advice, he calmly got up and sat next to Naruto. Naruto looked at him with guarded eyes when suddenly, he snaked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. Naruto lifted her face and looked at Sai, giving him a glare. Sai's head slowly turned and began inching toward hers. She pulled out from under his arm and hit him on the head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Naruto shrieked standing up.

"I thought it was a good idea." Sai defended.

Naruto pointed a finger at him. "It wasn't! I am not that kind of girl!"

Sai pulled out his book. "Wait, that's not what I meant at all!" He said pleadingly. He began reading trying to find some advice for the situation.

"Hanging around you is too dangerous. You might just try to take advantage of me, you creep!" She huffed and walked away.

"Wait, Naruto!" Naruto began running. _What did I do wrong?_

When she lost sight of Sai, Naruto slowed down to a walk. After a while, she heard a rustle. She threw a shruiken and heard a squeal. A warthog came running toward her, not wanting to kill it she ran away. It chased her and she saw a slight dip in the ground. She jumped off the ledge and crawled until she was against the ledge wall. The warthog went flying over her and it continued running after sliding some distance due to its momentum.

Naruto sighed and noticed a torn barrier seal tag on the floor. As the mist which had descended over the area cleared, she noticed what must have been one of the hidden tombs on the ground. She noticed an open section and descended to find that the tomb had already been raided. Hearing some footsteps, she looked up to see a shadowy figure headed her way. Trying out one of her experiments she channeled her earth chakra to meld in with the wall. _So he's most likely the tomb raider._ Wind started moving through the entire tomb before the stranger yelled out **Juuha Shou!** And a blade of chakra headed toward the place she had entered the wall. Not trusting her abilities to move around, Naruto moved out of the wall and jumped onto the ceiling, using chakra to keep herself in place. When it impacted with the wall, the entire tomb started caving in. Naruto jumped up into the air through the rubble. She noticed her opponent rise as well; she took out a kunai from her pouch and charged it with wind chakra before launching it at her opponent.

The stranger pulled out a claw like weapon and knocked it away. Naruto looked closely at his weapon and saw that it was made of chakra-conductive metal. She also noticed chakra reminiscent of her own wind chakra being channeled through it.

They landed on the ground and began running in the same direction, parallel to one another. Naruto decided to have some fun and slowed her pace to match the strangers. Finally getting bored she threw some shruiken at him. He jumped over them and began running toward Naruto. She created a kage bunshin to run in her stead to analyze her opponent. Her kage bunshin, noticing large amounts of chakra being channeled through the blade, halted as he swung and the ground in front of her.

"So that's how you want to play?" Naruto crossed her fingers **Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** and an army of clones appeared. The stranger seeing this hesitated before leaping forward and destroying one of her clones before leaping into the air and pulling his right arm back. _I've seen him do that before._ The stranger threw his arm forward **Juuha Shou** and a blade of chakra shot forward, cutting through one clone and rebounded off the ground cutting cleanly through the Naruto's. He landed and his smirk slid off his face to see Naruto heading toward him.

"I will give you a Kaimyou!" He cried.

He sent another **Juuha Shou **at her, but she easily jumped over it and sped toward him with her leg stretched out. **Juuha Reppushou** the stranger called out and a claw of chakra appeared above him. Seeing this, Naruto twisted and landed with her hand on the ground. The stranger's eyes widened at this. Naruto twirled around **Konoha Senpuu** and she kicked him in the ribs causing him to roll along the ground as he flew across the clearing and crashed into a tree. He slid down and slowly started getting up when chains which appeared out of nowhere wrapped around him and their sharp ends reared ready to strike.

"Enough, Naruto!" Naruto turned around to see a small party of people running toward them. She smiled when she recognized Yamato and Sakura among them but scowled when she saw Sai.

She turned to the monk with a sash around his waist as he spoke to her. "Release him, please." Naruto did so and turned her back to him as he walked up to them. "You were right to be worried Chiriku-sama, I investigated a tomb on my way to meet our guests and I arrived to see the barrier seals torn and her inside." Chiriku nodded at the two monks next to him as they vanished.

"I was investigating myself, jerk." Naruto said flipping him off.

"Oh you want to go, bitch?" Sora yelled. Everybody in the Konoha group stiffened as they saw Naruto slowly turn to glare at Sora fully. Sora gulped, feeling an oppressive aura directed at him. Suddenly a foot came crashing on his chest and he flew directly into three trees before crashing to the ground. Chiriku's eyes widened as he saw the distance Sora travel.

"Geez, Naruto. Did you have to kick him that far? Now I have to walk all that way to heal him." Sakura said with a sigh as she trudged to where Sora was. After Sora was fully healed, the two monks from earlier ran up to them.

"Kitane-san's coffin has been stolen, with no signs of forced entry. To break the barrier so easily, they must be truly skilled shinobi." One of the monks said.

"If they are that skilled, then it's a good thing we called on Konoha for help. You two go back and make preparations to guard the other three tombs. Also strengthen the temple's security and prepare for emergency situations." The two monks nodded at Chiriku's words and vanished again. Chiriku turned to the Konoha group. "It would be best to head to the fire temple now."

Yamato nodded. "Understood." They started moving and Naruto saw Sora glaring at her. She turned around and raised a fist at him in a menacing fashion, making him flinch. She smiled in satisfaction before following the others.

After a while of walking they reached the bottom of a very large staircase. Naruto decided that she'd had enough of walking for a day and manipulated the earth around her into a block which she sat on. It moved forward moulding to the stairs making it appear as if it was gliding. She kept pace with her teammates and Sakura stared at her in jealousy. Naruto pulled down her eyelid with one finger and stuck her tongue out at Sakura. Sakura huffed and looked straight ahead. After a while Naruto got bored. "Are we there yet?"

"Stop complaining, you're not even walking." Sakura said in frustration. When they reached the last few steps Naruto looked up and froze. This was the temple form her dream! Her block disappeared and she walked up shrugging off her feeling of foreboding. As she walked past him, Sora put his foot out and Naruto tripped, only to be caught on Sora's arm. "Thank you." Naruto said smiling tenderly at him but then she noticed she was losing her balance as she was tilting toward the stairs. Panicking from the sensation, she grabbed onto Sora as they fell. They rolled for a short while before ending up on a landing that was a part of the staircase.

Naruto looked up to see Sora straddling her, with his lips touching hers. His eyes widened at their compromising position. He got off of her quickly but felt a shiver down his spine as she glared at him. If he looked carefully, he could almost see flames burning everything in their wake behind her.

"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You." Naruto slowly got up. Sora ran up the stairs laughing. _Shit! This is bad._ Yamato clasped his hands and thick wood branched out from the forest wrapping around Naruto. Naruto broke free from her restraints easily and made her way up the stairs.

Chiriku turned to Sora who was walking to the Fire Temple entrance. "Sora, how could you do that?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry." Sora said with a dismissive wave over his shoulder. Sora stiffened. "You didn't think it was over did you, little monk?" He heard a demonic voice behind him ask. He turned around slowly but was caught in the scruff of the neck and was flipped over Naruto's shoulder. He landed hard on the ground causing webs of cracks to expand from the area surrounding his body.

Naruto dusted off her hands. "You're lucky you're our client, otherwise you'd be dead." She said in an awfully cheerful voice. The gates opened and Naruto picked Sora up by his collar and began dragging him through the entrance. The monks there looked on in curiosity as the amusing duo entered.

Waiting for the monks to finish, Naruto dropped Sora near one of the pillars. Sora got up and walked away. Naruto was about to yell at him when she noticed stares of disgust being sent at Sora. _Those eyes._ Naruto followed her teammates as they followed Chiriku into his audience chamber. After some time speaking to him, they heard shouts begin to sound outside.

"Ah, it appears the men have begun their practice." Chiriku said standing up and walking outside. The others followed. They walked onto on to a small veranda and lazed about as they watched the monks go into their stances. Some of the younger monk trainees saw her and redoubled their efforts. Naruto didn't notice any of this and watched as Sora was beaten in their friendly spars by an older monk. Naruto clenched her fist at the way he obviously hid his skill.

Naruto turned away and stared into the forest along the clearing. After they were done, Naruto turned to see Sora washing his face in the well. Deciding to go speak to him, Naruto started walking over. She was stopped when a monk trainee knelt before her. He had deep red hair tied into a long ponytail down his back.

"I had heard that the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina was alive. I am Uzumaki Santo. My parents managed to escape the destruction of Uzushiogakure and I was sent here after their untimely deaths. I offer my services to you, daughter of the princess of Uzushio."

Naruto stared at him in shock. Then finally regaining herself, Naruto spoke in the way she'd seen her shishou address visiting nobles. "I would gladly accept your services Santo. If you would like to, we shall be embarking to Konoha after this debacle is sorted, you may join us if you wish."

"Of course. I shall speak to Chiriku-sama in regards of my decision."

Naruto nodded before placing her hand on Santo's shoulder. "As you wish, by your leave." Santo nodded before getting up and calmly walking away.

Naruto hadn't seen where Sora had gone, thus she activated her sensory abilities. She sensed some chakra flare some distance from the Fire Temple. She walked until she saw an entrance into what appeared to be a cave. She walked through a tunnel to see Sora launching attacks at a wall.

She stepped down into his field of vision and he stopped his attack. "Hi there. I am here to grant you your own Kaimyou seeing as you were so eager to give me mine. How about So-chan?" Naruto asked dancing around him. "Quit mocking me! You prickly whore!" Sai launched a fist at Naruto who easily dodged it. Sora began launching faster attacks.

Naruto smiled at this. "Now there's some of the strength I witnessed earlier. None of that dancing the monks are teaching you."

"Go away you annoy me." Sora said walking away from her.

"People have been looking at you with disgust all your life, haven't they?" Sora stopped at her words.

"So what? I don't give a rat's ass what they think of me. I disgust myself!" Sora started whispering at this point. "I hate my power, but I will use it to avenge my father." Naruto froze at those words. Suddenly they heard a bell go off.

"Something has happened at the Fire Temple!" Sora said before running off. Naruto followed and caught up with him.

When they arrived, they saw everybody getting ready to go. Once they were ready, they headed out. Following a trail the monks assumed to be dug by the coffins as they ran along the terrain. They ran to the edge of a cliff and looked down to view a massive valley of nothing but grass. Some distance away they noticed the coffins being dragged around. Naruto launched her Chains and they pierced the ground under her. She pulsed more chakra down their length making them grow larger as they tunneled toward the coffins. She had done this to avoid tipping off the enemy if they were anywhere in the vicinity. When she felt they were close enough, she launched them out of the ground wrapping around the coffins. To be as delicate as possible, Naruto had had to crouch and place her hands into a ram hand seal to concentrate. Suddenly, the coffins began to shake violently.

"Chiriku-san, those coffins are going to be damaged if I hold onto the any longer. Do I keep them detained or should I let them go?"

"Let them go, we can retrieve them ourselves." Chiriku said with a grave expression **(Well done to those who go it)**. The chains holding the coffin retracted and the coffins resumed their journey. Naruto and Sora were paired together as partners for this mission. Sora launched himself off the cliff and began running toward the coffins. Naruto shook her head at him and followed. Catching up to Sora easily, she looked at ahead at the coffins. She decided to put on a burst of speed as to get to them before whatever trap the enemy had set, could come to fruition. Just as she was about to do so, she was grabbed by Sora and the two of them rolled to the suddenly stationary coffins. They began spinning rapidly and tunneled through the ground.

"Geez Sora! What were you thinking? I could have caught them!"

"This is Fire Temple business; we don't need some hired goons' help." He said, shouting back at Naruto. Not wasting any time, Naruto started sensing out the enemies. It was strange; it was like this terrain was pumped full of chakra making it difficult to pinpoint anything. Feeling a surge of chakra below her she jumped away. Her teammates followed her example and mountain like ridges grew out of the ground. Everyone began to be separated. When everything settled, she saw that she was left alone with Sora.

"Of all the people I could have been left with, why did it have to be you?" Naruto said looking around. Noticing Sakura on a ledge, she jumped up to meet her. "Sakura, do you have any idea of the others' locations?" Sakura shook her head. "Okay, all we have to do is stick together." The empty space beneath the ledge disappeared. Throwing a rock down the sudden new path before them to test its authenticity, they were surprised that it made contact. Stepping forward, Naruto began walking before she fell through a hole which hadn't been there a second before. She landed before looking around to notice she was in a tunnel. Naruto walked down the tunnel before a large rock began tumbling toward her out of the fork the tunnel path. She pressed herself flat against the tunnel wall and she was immediately absorbed into it. _It appears that even though my sensory abilities have been rendered useless, I can use the terrain to my own advantage._

She noticed somebody walk down the path. "Damn Fuen, my target should have been here."

Naruto was suddenly launched out of the wall. She managed to recover and landed on her feet, with a kunai in her hands. _It appears I can do whatever I want, as long as they don't sense me. But how are they keeping track of my movements? No device has been placed on me. Must be dumb luck._

The woman suddenly appeared in front of her and licked her. Naruto leapt back and shivered.

"The chakra leaking from your chakra circulatory system is so wonderful. It gives me a rush. I've never tasted anything like it. To think that somebody would ever have all five elemental chakra's, it's exhilarating."

"You stay away from me you creepy hag." Naruto said holding up her kunai.

"Why don't you join my collection? So which do you prefer, French or soft?" The woman said winking at her.

"Hey, I don't swing that way." Naruto said incredulously before running away. Naruto stopped running. The strange woman appeared next to her. Naruto launched a fist at her face and the redhead flew down the tunnel before hitting a wall. She stood up shakily. "Now you've made me angry." Her purple eyes narrowed. Sensing danger, Naruto created an army of shadow clones to make it harder for her to pinpoint her exactly.

"Your luck ran out the moment you made me angry little girl." The clones got into battle ready stances. They activated their Sharingans

"**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu" **The red head called out before a number of fireballs were fired at the clones. Chains erupted out of the clones and the technique was absorbed as the fireballs ran flew near them. Naruto decided that if her opponent was going to be using ninjutsu, she should fight her one-on-one. She dispelled her clones and waited for the next technique with her chains arched in front of her, forming a defense of sorts. Seeming not to notice the kage bunshin above her, the red head was hit with a Rasengan. The clone dispelled.

The redhead stepped out a wall. **Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu** "You're not half-bad. I want that chakra of yours even more now." Naruto stepped away taking into account that she had seen a fluctuation before her chakra natures had changed.

**Suiton: Ja no Kuchi.** A large torrent erupted like a geyser next to the redhead before launching itself at Naruto in the ravine she found herself. The water began to encase before she manage to breach the surface and stand atop the tumultuous waves. She jumped up onto the ledge before jumping back as more water erupted on the wall next to her. Naruto managed to stand atop the new river of water. She noticed a scroll before it appeared that the redhead's bodies changed. **Raiton: Jibashi**. The current headed toward her but Naruto remembered what her sensei had told her about chakra natures. Naruto coated her body with Fuuton chakra and the lightning arced around her, hitting the walls causing them to shut off the tunnel leading to the redhead.

Naruto made a kage bunshin lie down in her place. She waited for the redhead to appear again before creating another kage bunshin. With a Rasengan in hand, it launched itself at her. She turned around looking up at it. **Fuuton: Hanachiri Mai**

A drill of petals with wind hit it making the shadow clone dispel as the wind drill dissipated. The power of the technique had left a dead-end through the wall. _So each of her bodies has their own element. If I can predict which element she is going to use, I can use its stronger counterpart to attempt at keeping my distance from her. I shouldn't use any of my techniques seeing as I should keep them secret in case anything happens which will draw our fight to an end. I know I will be seeing her again if that happens._

The redhead didn't waste any time as she launched small balls that resembled tornados at Naruto. Naruto dodged and began retreating down the tunnel. She was met by the redhead further down and small fireballs were launched at her.

Running in the opposite direction she was blocked by the redhead again. Guessing water was coming next she hid in the wall. Before the redhead could launch her lightning attack, Naruto used her own technique against her which she had copied with her Sharingan. Running through hands seals quickly she called out, "**Fuuton: Hanachiri Mai!**" A drill of air and petals launched themselves at the red head. She dodged but a strand of her hair was cut. Her body turned into dust as she became mummified.

Her body reformed some distance from Naruto. "How dare you! Do you know how long it took me to grow it to this length? A woman's hair is her life." The redhead asked in anger. Naruto jumped away from her lightning technique. Thankfully her friends entered through a tunnel into the cavern they were fighting in. Suddenly, Naruto's feet turned to stone and she couldn't move anymore. The redhead kissed her and it seemed to Naruto that her life force began to be drained away.

**You can't even take care of yourself, ningen. How do you think you can bring your friend back this way?** Kyuubi's chakra entered Naruto's body and exited into the redhead's body. The redhead choked and let go of her. Naruto knelt down in shock of being finally returned control of her body.

"Damn you, you bitch!" She said before a large chakra claw went flying through one of the walls. Sora stepped through. "I've got a Kaimyou for all three of you."

"Sora?"

Sora stepped in front of Naruto. "I came to save you."

"No one asked for your help." Naruto said finally getting angry.

"Weren't you the one calling out to me earlier?"

"The hell I did!"

"Well, I heard what I heard."

"As if anything your perverted brain picks up can be taken for truth, ero-monk."

"Whatever, let's go." Sora said in a lazy tone.

"Hai." Yamato entered the cavern just as the other two members of the redheads group joined her. "Naruto retreat. They're too dangerous to fight."

"Like we'll let you." The redhead said as her partners surrounded Sora and Naruto. Naruto, having had enough, punched the ground in front of her causing it to implode as the two members in front of her jumped away.

Suddenly, the cavern started to collapse only to reveal Chiriku and his monks had arrived. The three thieves joined the white haired male who appeared to be their leader on top of the ridge and they all vanished using shunshin.

Naruto noticed Santo drop down in front of her. "Naruto-sama, I apologize for not being here to protect you. From this day on, I shall remain by your side constantly to ensure something like this doesn't happen again."

"Santo, you had other duties to perform. Do not worry; I'm sure everything has been arranged for your return." Santo nodded before standing up and following her as the group departed back to the Fire Temple. Meeting with the elder of the temple, they discussed their return to Konoha seeing as they had to report to the Hokage.

"Sora, would you accompany us back to Konoha seeing as Sai's already injured and being somebody from the Fire Temple who guarded the tombs, your help would be useful." Yamato asked. Sora turned to Chiriku who nodded solemnly. Sora turned to them and nodded.

They headed out the next morning and decided to run to deliver their report early. They arrived in Konoha and headed to the Hokage Tower. Once inside, they saw Asuma exit as they let Yamato in to deliver the report. The group of young people waited outside and engaged Asuma in conversation. After an argument between Sora and Naruto, Santo stepped in.

"I apologize for what I'm about to say in advance." He said with a polite expression on his face. "If you ever insult Naruto-sama again, I will have to decapitate you."

"Like hell you will! Where's your pride? Are you her bitch now, Santo?" A vein started showing on Santo's forehead before he clenched his fist and got into an argument with Sora. Naruto and Sakura hit them both on the head.

"Anyway, Sora, please behave appropriately around Tsunade-sama." Sakura interjected. "If you don't, it could be disastrous."

Naruto nodded, "Where do you think I got my temper from? Tsunade no baa-chan doesn't have a very good sense of humour." Sora just huffed dismissively. When Yamato called them in Sakura dragged Sora with Naruto and Sai, followed by Santo, following sedately behind them.

"Sayonara, Asuma-sensei." Naruto said with a wave over hear over shoulder.

"Naruto-sama, you should learn proper etiquette when dealing with people."

"Santo, are you trying to tell me what to do?"

"No, but-" Santo replied in a flustered manner.

"Good, then you're forgiven."

"But-" Naruto entered the office and Santo decided to drop it. Santo bowed to Tsunade. "Greetings to you, Tsunade-sama. I am Uzumaki Santo and I shall be Naruto-sama's vassal from this day onward."

"Gaki, you should learn from this boy. He shows the correct amount of respect when dealing with superiors." Tsunade looked at Naruto pointedly. Naruto pouted. Sakura introduced Sora. "Good afternoon, Bodhisattva." To Tsunade it sounded like baa-san and she proceeded to kick Sora through her door. Naruto smiled in satisfaction.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune yelled.

"Even Buddha would only forgive you once." Tsunade called out before stepping on him, forcing him deeper into the wall he collided with. "Who are you calling baa-san?" Tsunade reared her fist back.

"I said Bodhisattva." Sora raised his arms in front of his face and Tsunade's fist collided with the wall next to him.

"Bodhisattva?" Tsunade turned to look at Sora, who quickly nodded. "Well aren't you a cute little monk." Tsunade dusted him off then she began dragging him into her office by his collar. "You pass. Welcome to Konoha."

After hearing their accounts with the bandits, she dismissed them. Outside, they split up with Yamato going to write up their mission report, Naruto and Sakura going to the hospital with Sai, leaving Santo and Sora to wander around with each other.

Sora left Santo to explore by himself. Santo shook his head and decided that he would find him later. Feeling his urge to follow Naruto's orders he turned and tried to find him again. Walking through a park, Santo noticed Sora staring down a large dog. _Geez, you pick fights with dogs too?_

At the hospital, Naruto was sitting behind her desk examining a patient. She liked helping people and she knew if she wasn't here at least ten hours every month, Tsunade would bring her to task. After she treated his bruised elbow, she heard a ruckus outside. She decided to ignore it as her patient left. She pulled out the senbon from her hair and let it fall loose.

She turned to her window to see Lee jumping across the rooftops headed for one of the parks. From experience, Naruto knew that if Lee was excited, it meant that there was a fight somewhere in the village. She shook her head as she didn't even have to guess who was involved. She walked out if the hospital and took a leisurely stroll in the direction Lee had gone.

Meeting up with Asuma and Shikamaru, she viewed Kiba, Lee, Chouji, Santo and Sora in what appeared to be a battle royal. Noticing that everyone was going through their techniques, Naruto decided to intervene. She was surprised to see Santo charging large amounts of chakra to his feet seeing as she hadn't witnessed him fight yet. Chains erupted out of her and held them all down as Asuma appeared in a smoke and wind shunshin. Naruto dodged as Chouji came barreling toward them. He hit Shikamaru, "I'm not fat!" he exclaimed before they both went down.

When they all calmed down, she let them go and walked away as Asuma began punishing them by leaving then with lumps on their heads. Santo followed her. "Santo, why don't you stay behind and make some new friends here?"

"But, Naruto-sama-" He began.

She handed him a map, "No buts. I will be going home now, that is a map to get there. Walk up to the large building and let yourself in. You can have whichever room you want. Just don't wake me up when you come in." Naruto joked. Santo nodded with a smile and joined the others as they were being treated by Asuma to some barbeque.

Naruto entered her compound and decided to tend the garden Ino had set up for her as a welcome home gift. She looked at all her plants and an idea came to mind. She pulled out the small book labeled 'Project M' from one of her pouches. She headed off to the training ground Kakashi had led her to. Scanning the book with her Sharingan she memorized its contents and then focusing some chakra into it, it was torn to shreds and scattered to the wind.

She began running through the technique called Amaterasu because the idea of inextinguishable flames was too much for her to resist. She channeled more chakra to her eyes and felt a slight shift in them. Focusing on a rock on the other side of the clearing she focused and it seemed as if here yes tunneled with heat in them and black flames erupted on the rock. They spread to the neighboring rocks and they began to burn on top of the water of the waterfall. Calming her racing heart, she absorbed them back. She had to admit, it was a dangerous technique.

Moving on she focused her chakra and skeletal structure began to form around her. Pushing more chakra, the structure grew muscles and tendons then finally a figure with an oni mask on one side of its face and wearing a large cloak appeared around her. Its face didn't have any clear features but it had hollow black eyes. A kunai with the flames of Amaterasu as its blade was held in its hand.

Inside, the experience was surreal. She felt invincible. She would ask Kakashi for advice on the Kamui seeing as she didn't want to make any mistakes on that front. She would have to test her genjutsu capabilities the next time they went on a mission. She looked up and noticed that the sun had set and the moon was high. Using the Hiraishin she arrived in her room. This was something she was grateful for. After arriving in Konoha, she had placed Hiraishin markers in strategic places all over Konoha.

The next day, team training was cancelled and Sora went off with Asuma to gain better control over his element.

Naruto used Hiraishin to get to the same training ground. She didn't understand why, but everything was coming to her easily, too easily it seemed at times. Pouring chakra to her eyes, everything around her became shades of grey. Naruto focused her spiritual energy around her making it as a fog. This didn't drain her noticeably at all. Then she used the physical side on objects to move objects around the clearing. She pushed and pulled and she hardly felt any drain on her chakra at all.

Using the residual spiritual energy, Naruto formed a construct which had the words king on its forehead. She memorized its feel and released it. Feeling happy with her progress, she decreased her chakra to her Mangekyou Sharingan. She summoned forth her Susano'o. Then she kept it in place as she pumped more chakra and her eyes morphed into the Rin'negan as her warrior increased into gigantic proportions. She looked at the chakra around her. It almost seemed alive as it raced around. Testing out its battle capabilities she had it wave its kunai. A wave of black flames blanketed the forest. Panicking, Naruto pulled them back hoping no shinobi had been caught in them.

Pulling out some of the trial abilities which had been entered into her, she clasped her hands together and a wall of wood rose up from the ground. She hadn't found names for her techniques yet, so she just did them without them because now she could be more silent. Seeing the extent of her abilities, she panted as she completed a set of shapes. She hadn't realized that it would be so tiring. Her Sharingan abilities had been so easy to learn, now it seemed like her chakra was being used up faster than she had used it against Orochimaru. Walking up to a tree, she focused her chakra and she was immediately absorbed into it. Sensing chakra signatures some distance away, she subconsciously traveled through the forest to see a unit of ANBU surrounding Danzou and an Amegakure shinobi. Deciding to leave it be for now, she used her Hiraishin to head home.

Hearing some noise outside, she looked out to see Santo tending to her garden. She shook her head at him fondly. She guessed it must that they were related that she found him so easy to like. She saw a dust cloud go up into the air but decided the Konoha forces could handle it.

She decided to go to sleep as she was tired from that afternoons training. Waking up in the evening, she decided to see Tsunade. She used her Hiraishin to enter Tsunade's office. She looked up to see a massive shruiken headed straight for Tsunade.

"Tsunade-baa-chan. Get down!" Naruto said lunging forward and knocking her down. It went through the window above their heads and embedded itself into the wall with a cable attached to it. Naruto stood up to look out of the window to see Sora gliding toward the window. Sora slid past her and landed on the overturned desk. He turned around and Naruto and Tsunade both saw his right arm had transformed into a red armoured claw. He lunged at her and Naruto created a katana using it to block his arm. She channeled wind chakra to combat his own.

"Why are you after my shishou?" Naruto used her strength to push him until Sora caved and he was kneeling on the ground.

"Move! Don't interfere Naruto!" Sora screamed as the wind in the room intensified. He managed to shift her blade to the side as he ran out into the village.

"Sora!" Naruto ran after him. She noticed the city experience a power failure but she had to apprehend Sora without hurting him. She tried to reason with him as they ran, but she guessed that he was greatly upset about something to have attacked Tsunade no baa-chan. She decided to let him run for a bit to help him cool off. She noticed a defense barrier being erected around the village. Even she herself would not be able to break it down seeing as its focal points were too large and they would rebuild themselves before she could break another two down using the Hiraishin's properties. So she did the only thing she could think of doing. She left chasing Sora for a while. She activated her sensory abilities and sensed Asuma headed toward them. When he arrived, she indicated the area he had disappeared in after placing the formula marker on his neck.

Naruto ran around the village and landed in the centre. "Civilians of Konoha," they looked up at her. "Make your way to the centre of the village before the enemy launches their attack. I will use my abilities to send you to a safe place."

Naruto pulled out her white kunai with their Hiraishin markers. People began to gather and when she saw the masses, she felt slightly unsure but decided that she could do it. She shot her kunai around the group and they surrounded them. Placing her hands in the ram seal to help her concentrate, she flared the marker in her compound and she transported the company of Konoha citizens along with herself.

When they arrived, she noticed a nervous Santo. "Naruto-sama, thank goodness you're all right. What are all these people doing here?"

"They are to remain here for a while. Put them in the surrounding houses, they should be comfortable there seeing as six can fit in each house. Keep the old and young in my home. The healthy should be posted no more than a couple of meters from the main house." She pulled out a scroll. "Santo, this is a command scroll for the security device I created. Place your hands on it and you should be able to link with it. Any enemies that enter, incinerate them." Santo hesitated before nodding.

Naruto sensed a massive burst of chakra near the main gate. She used the Hiraishin to find that the front gate was covered by a massive wall of earth. Not wasting anytime, she sent everybody back before launching her chains and creating a fence around the area. The seal on her right arm appeared as she channeled all the lightning jutsu she had into it. The chain crackled as it seemed to disrupt the jutsu's effect.

"This should by you some time before the jutsu takes full effect, organize yourselves along the rooftops and get ready. Whatever happens, do not engage the enemy until you have seen the full extent of this jutsu. Make sure that it doesn't reach the front line of your army." Naruto ran through some hand seals and then an arced chain shot out of the ground with a mirror with seals on it at its tip. She channeled some chakra into the mirror and Santo's face appeared. "Santo! I am leaving this extension here. I want you to be the first sign of assault to allow our allies to see the extent of the jutsu and keep those shinobis from interfering with the main body of our forces. She saw him nod before taking her place at the head of the company.

A lone shinobi with a senbon in his mouth was reminded of the man he once guarded. It was all too easy for him to see his qualities in his daughter. Genma reminisced over how similar they were.

Naruto sensed a chakra flare from Asuma and she guessed he wanted to meet with her. "Sorry, but I've got to go. There is another area which needs my help. I'll be back as soon as I can." She teleported to Asuma who had to go to the power plant to stop another plan of the enemies.

She ran after Sora again and caught him as he reached the top of a temple. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and they rolled and tumbled until they stopped with Naruto straddling Sora. Their positions didn't faze them as they got into an argument over Asuma killing Sora's father.

Sora managed to surprise Naruto and he slipped past her and ran off. Naruto was about to chase after him when the redhead from the tunnel appeared.

"You again? What do you want?"

"You ruined my hair, now I'm going to drag a long kiss out of you." The redhead launched fireballs at Naruto. Naruto jumped back and decided she had had enough. She dodged her jutsu until she could get in close before forming a blade which she cut the redhead in half with. She made sure to return to the halves of the head of hair and burnt them using the **Housenka no Jutsu**.

Completing her task, Naruto set out again to find Sora. Heading in the direction of the forest, she was met with a red light reaching into the sky. She shivered at the familiarity of the chakra. Naruto sensed Asuma land next to Sora. Naruto reached them as Sora's skin gave way and his blood mingled with the chakra.

She looked at the white haired man. "Your eyes are the same as all the others who have ever been disgusted with me. I will make you pay!"

"Like I care about that now. Konoha will be destroyed and the rightful sole ruler shall take his place at the fore front of Hi no Kuni!" The white haired man laughed with an insane glint in his eye. Naruto charged at him and hit his staff and he flew back out of the crater. Asuma chased after him. Sora leapt forward at high speeds and Naruto managed to bind him with her chains. She placed him at a distance and noticed that his fourth tail had grown. Naruto saw her chains begin to corrode slightly. She attached them to her chakra supply to keep them at optimum strength.

Naruto decided that for her home, she would sacrifice some of her secrets. She placed her hands together before reaching an arm out. Wood extended from it surprising the rookie nine and Yamato who had arrived but waited as they saw Naruto had the situation under control.

The wood wrapped around the pseudo-Jinchuuriki, and it seemed to suck its chakra out. The red chakra traveled from Sora's body and entered Naruto's body which seemed to absorb the chakra without a problem. After Sora's body was cleansed, he collapsed. Naruto rushed over to him to find him sleeping peacefully. His face seemed truly at peace. She placed her hand on his chest as she began to heal him. His skin started growing and finally after a short while of working on him, he was fully healed.

"Yamato-taichou, can you take me to where the fallen shinobi are?"

Yamato nodded and solemnly walked with Naruto following him. She had realized that some were irrecoverable seeing as they'd been sucked into the ground, but she hadn't realized that there were so many who had died. Pushing chakra to her eyes, her vision became shades of grey. She created a construct with her spiritual energy and used it to channel her physical energy at an amplified amount into the dead bodies. They glowed green for a while before the dead shinobi started walking around. People looked confused before Naruto explained to them what she had done.

Naruto collapsed after having used the jutsu on such a large scale for the first time.

Naruto woke up to find that Sora had left the village, saying he was going to travel the world. She shook her head fondly at his memory.

Sakura and Sai were busy talking on the other side of the room. Kakashi walked in and looked solemnly at Naruto. "Naruto, you have been requested to the Daimyo's palace upon your full recovery."

Naruto looked up at him with wide eyes before looking down onto her hands. _I knew this day would come. The old fool was always naïve to his son's manipulations. Now I have to spend the entire trip fending off his advances._

"Kaka-sensei, may we continue my training for a day or two? I want to finish it before I leave." Kakashi's eyes widened to unbelievable proportions at this.

"Naruto, do you understand what it is you're asking?"

"Yes, I do sensei. I'm going to work to be Hokage and bring my friend back." Kakashi nodded with an eye smile before Shunshining away. Naruto got out of bed and headed to their training ground. She was surprised to see Tsunade waiting there under a tree with Yamato and Kakashi. Tsunade met her eyes.

"Naruto, I have discussed what I'm about to tell you with the elders and though they were hesitant they finally agreed after hearing of your display on the field the night of the bandits attack. We have agreed to allow you to become a jounin. When you return from your trip, I want you to follow me as I sort through Konoha's business. From here on out, I will be grooming you to be my successor should I fall or am not able to continue my duties." Naruto nodded with an impish smile on her face.

"Say baa-chan, when can I become Hokage huh?" Naruto started saying with her puppy do eyes.

"Naruto, stop fooling around." Tsunade looked at Naruto whilst walking away. "Don't you have training to do?" Tsunade disappeared into the forest. Naruto's expression became serious.


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto walked out of her home to stand in front of the carriage at the bottom of the stairs. It was just slightly past dawn. She had sent Santo on a mission to find Jiraiya. She knew now that he was a sensor. She knew only Jiraiya could find out more information on the issue of the rumours surrounding Akatsuki members entering Hi no Kuni.

She was dressed in a pale lavender kimono which was held together by a purple obi. She had her headband tied around her neck. The carriage door was opened for her. She stepped in and arranged her kimono for a long trip. She felt the carriage lurch forward before leaving her compound with the sound of children laughing. Naruto had started an orphanage on the east side of her compound and she had personally hired nannies to take care of two children. This was a relief plan by her to help the struggling orphanages in the village. Some of them had already started at the ninja academy and after they left school she would help them train and teach them how to use the small reserves to the best of their ability through chakra control exercises as well as simulations in which they used the three academy jutsu to go about completing their objectives.

She smiled fondly as she saw a young boy chuck sand at a girl making her cry. She didn't know how many times she had spoken to Tahi to stop doing that. She laughed gently as she saw the girl stop crying and wacked him over the head. All the children looked up and waved as they saw Naruto leaving. The carriage went through the outskirts of the village before heading out onto a path through the forest. Noticing some movement to her right, she tensed but relaxed when she recognized Kiba riding on Akamaru.

"Kiba, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked impassively.

"Why are you so cold Naruto-chan?" Kiba's head hung then immediately popped up again. "Tsunade-sama had asked me to be your bodyguard, seeing as a lady on the road should never be alone." Naruto looked away with a slight blush on her face. She didn't understand the emotions which had been running through her. She decided to push them to the back of her mind. She would deal with them when she was not focusing on outmanoeuvring Keiji, the Daimyo's son.

When it was around noon, the carriage stopped after travelling over a large bridge. Naruto had been quite concerned that the area they had entered had grown dangerously quiet. She looked at Kiba to see he had a savage grin on his face. Her suspicions had been confirmed when a man stepped out from the tree line causing her carriage to stop. Naruto was about to step out when she looked at Kiba shake his head. She looked at him quizzically but he just shook his head gain. She huffed and crossed her arms when a group of bandits ran in her direction. **Tsuuga!** Kiba began drilling through his opponents leaving them dazed. In his battle haze, he headed away from her carriage into a group which had sprouted further forward.

Naruto turned lazily to see a large Katon jutsu get launched at them. She was about to absorb it when it struck but then she remembered the carriage driver. Using her speed, she tore through the side door and picked the driver up at the front before jumping away.

"Look here boys; we have quite a beauty on our hands. What price do you think she'd fetch? I'm pretty sure she's still innocent too." The one who appeared to be the leader looked at Naruto with a leer. Naruto bristled at him.

"Kiba! Take the driver and go on ahead! I'll catch up as soon as I can!" The driver scampered over to Kiba.

"What?! Naruto have you lost your mind? I can't leave you here, who knows what tricks they have up their sleeves?"

"Kiba go, I'll be fine." Naruto turned to him with a reassuring smile. Kiba clenched his teeth with an audible 'click' resonating from his canines. He looked at the driver who would be a liability for both of them in this situation then picked him up before leaving Akamaru to watch Naruto's back. Naruto looked each of the men before her taking in their stances. Thinking it was worth the risk; she activated her Mangekyou Sharingan and cast a powerful genjutsu on them. She watched them fight amongst one another. The leader, however, seemed to break free from it. Naruto kept her face impassive but inside she was filled with surprise.

"You can try your tricks on me you bitch, but I am from a clan with special traits which allow us to be immune to genjutsu. I am your ante." The man stood confidently before her. Naruto's brow furrowed slightly. "You cannot beat me!" He ran through some hand seals which Naruto recognized to be an earth jutsu before spikes came up to impale her.

The man frowned as Naruto stood there and let them rip through her body. His eyes widened as he felt somebody grab his arm and twisted it until he was kneeling on the ground.

"Who are you? Who are you working for?"

"My name is Ichiro and I have no allegiance. I am from the wood country and my village was destroyed by Konoha ANBU. You are one of the ones responsible."

"I did no such thing but you are too much of a threat to Konoha to be allowed to wander around. Naruto frowned as she slit his throat. She had been informed of the Root division however she had not realized such boundaries had been crossed. She did not like killing but if she was to be Hokage, she had to think of the village in all her actions. Looking ahead she followed in the direction Akamaru had started running. After a while, they caught up with Kiba who was tree hopping at a leisurely rate with the old man on his back. When Naruto reached him, they wordlessly increased their pace.

They ran until the sun began to set. When night fell, they reached a big wall with large fortified double doors. They slowly opened and a guard was standing there gesturing for the old man to follow. Kiba let the old man down and they watched as he was escorted away. A short while later, a young woman dressed in an elegant kimono walked out to meet them.

"Greetings Namikaze-dono, my father has told me of your arrival. Sadly he will not be able to meet with you until tomorrow seeing as he will be returning from grass country. My name is Tahi."

"I see, and who will be hosting us for the time that he is absent?"

"My brother Keiji will. He has taken a liking to you, Namikaze-dono." Tahi turned around. "Be careful, he is as relentless as a charging bull." Naruto clenched her fists slightly and followed Tahi as she showed them to their rooms. Kiba was in the room next to her. Naruto undressed herself and opened the wardrobe and blushed when she saw silk sleeping kimono's hanging. She pulled out a black one and got into the cool crisp sheets, before sinking into the darkness that is sleep.

Naruto was awoken when she felt somebody begin to get into the bed next to her. She opened her eyes and saw a little brunette girl with an impish face freeze as she was caught.

"Naruto-neechan, why do you have to be such a light sleeper? I almost had you. You would have gotten such a fright!" The little girl said exuberantly.

"Akemi, why is it that whenever I visit, you try to scare me? You know I'm a ninja and I'll wake up before you can get near me."

"I know, but it doesn't hurt to try right?" Akemi said with a bright smile on her face. "Anyway neechan, you promised to teach me a new jutsu when I completed the tree walking exercise. I'm only twelve and I mastered it." Her face lit up as if remembering something. "Hang on neechan, you said the last time if I mastered a jutsu you gave me, I could become your student and travel with you wherever you go. Father already said it's okay."

"Geez Akemi, you like to make my life difficult don't you? I don't want to babysit some spoilt brat."

Akemi pouted. "Neechan acts so unladylike all the time and you chase a bunch of men away because of that but nobody says anything about that."

"I don't care that's the difference between you and me." Naruto smiled at the indignant huff which emitted from Akemi. "Anyway, let's go outside so I can teach you a new jutsu." Akemi nodded excitedly before bouncing off the bed and headed outside with an amused Naruto walking sedately behind her. They walked out into the garden before Naruto ran through some hand seals. **Suiton: Mizurappa**. A large wave of water exploded out of Naruto's mouth but suddenly dissipated when it was about to engulf the manor.

"Naruto-neechan, you're so cool!" Naruto left Akemi practicing. She hoped that Akemi would not be able to get that jutsu seeing as you needed water chakra affinity. Naruto entered the manor to relax in the dojo. She crossed her legs and sat down in the middle of it. Naruto had to do this seeing as she was constantly practicing her nature chakra gathering. She had tried to invent a seal to allow her to store it but it behaved differently from normal chakra thus it caused the seal to explode turning everything to turn to stone within a diameter of two metres. Luckily she had jumped back when she noticed the seal behave erratically. This had lead her to one of her deadlier tags which she sometimes attached to a weapon but the more skilled shinobi could dodge it and she had to be still in order to collect the chakra.

Naruto heard the dojo door open, but she was able to ascertain who it was. "Hello Keiji-dono."

"Naruto-san, why do you always have to be so formal?" Naruto opened her eyes to see Keiji sitting across from her rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "We've known each other for some time; surely we should be able to call one another by our names?"

"I choose not to do so because to forget oneself is to cause confusion and chaos between people."

"Isn't that a bit melodramatic? I mean, I know Jiraiya-sama likes theatrics but isn't this a tad over the top?"

"Hmph, well if it disturbs you so much go away, ero-sama."

Keiji's head dropped, "So cruel Naruto-san. That was an incident when I was younger." Keiji's head lifted with a serious expression on his face. "Ever since that day, I-."

"Keiji I-"

"Naruto-san I-I guess it was for the best anyway. My father is getting me married to the water country's Daimyo's daughter. The ceremony is happening in a month's time. I would ask of you to help escort her if you have the time."

"I would be happy to Keiji; after all, what are friends for?" Naruto smiled gently at him. It looked like he wanted to say more but he was interrupted by Akemi who entered looking excited and wet.

"Naruto-neechan, I did it. We just received word that father will not be returning for some time. He says it is okay for you to train me. If he doesn't arrive by this evening, he says that you can return to Konoha with his deepest apologies. Oh, Hello Keiji-nii. I didn't see you there!" Akemi bounced and sat at her brother's side. Akemi turned to Naruto. "Did he ask you to marry him yet?"

"What?! No! What gave you that idea Akemi?"

"It's just that nee-chan talks about you all the time and he speaks about how much he lo-" Keiji clamped his hands over Akemi's mouth, got up and began dragging her out with him.

"Please ignore her Naruto-san. She sometimes sees things where there's nothing to see." Keiji walked out with Akemi leaving a severely confused Naruto behind. Remembering Kiba, who was probably aimlessly roaming the large manor, she got up and walked out activating her sensory abilities. She sensed him headed quickly toward her. She decided to remain where she was.

Kiba found Naruto leaning against the wall as if she had been waiting for him. He stopped in front of her. "Naruto, Tsunade-sama has sent a message to inform us that Asuma-sensei has been killed." Naruto felt as if her entire body had become stone. "He was killed by two Akatsuki members. It appears that no matter how many injuries one of them received, he would not die. He has been nicknamed as an immortal. Not much is known about the second member except he was effortlessly able to stitch his partners severed head back in seconds." A silence pervaded the area. "Tsunade-sama has also requested for you not to return to the village and she will periodically send you mission details when required. Right now she has requested me to aid Shikamaru's team with team 7 in order to stop them. She suggests you move from this place, and head toward wave country. Being on the move will keep Akatsuki from being able to pinpoint your location."

Naruto clenched her fist and was about to protest when Kiba's lips were suddenly on hers. She stood frozen before they broke apart and he walked away, waving a hand over his shoulder. Naruto touched her lips before recovering and shouting at his retreating form with Akamaru at his side. "The next time I see you, you are dead dog-breath. You hear me?! You are dead." Kiba turned a corner and vanished. Naruto sighed. "So much to deal with."

Deciding to deal with the problems before her, she headed to wear she sensed Akemi's chakra signature. Naruto entered an ornate courtyard to see large waves of water escape out of Akemi's mouth. Akemi fell to her knees and started panting.

"You know, you shouldn't overdo things like that Akemi."

"Neechan? Isn't that being a bit of a hypocrite? You always take things way out of proportion."

Naruto's voice became serious. "Akemi, from now on you shall refer to me as sensei. If I am to be your instructor, you will follow me on my travels and you might not see home for long periods of time."

Akemi swallowed but nodded.

"Good, pack your things, we leave within the hour." Akemi scampered off. Naruto returned to her room and removed her silk kimono and wore her ANBU body suit. She put on her black fingerless gloves and put her headband around her neck. Bending over to put on her strap high heels, Naruto felt some discomfort around the area of her chest and looked down to find her breasts had grown some more. _No! At this rate my breasts are going to be bigger than my shishou's._

Shaking her fear off, she unsealed an emerald green haori and put it on in an attempt to hide her bust. Moving to the outside, she found Akemi waiting for her with a backpack.

"I told you that we leave within the hour, it's only been about ten minutes."

"I know Naruto-sensei, but I felt that a ninja must learn to pack light and quickly so as to avoid time-consuming evacuation." Naruto nodded, impressed at her new student's logic.

"In that case, we'll leave as of right now. We'll be headed to wave country. There are some people we can stay with there. And there is also a weapon which I think with the proper training, you can master. It belonged to an infamous man by the name of Zabuza. Last I had heard Daikoku Tenzen had taken it. He used to be the Mizu no Kuni Daimyo's aide. I think he would be willing to part with it for the Hi no Kuni Daimyo's daughter." Naruto winked at Akemi who in turn gave a small smile. Naruto looked at her before turning around and walking away with a smile on her face. _I now see what you meant, Jiraiya-sensei._

Naruto and Akemi had been travelling for approximately two weeks. In that time, Naruto addressed Akemi's lacking taijutsu. In a fight, she'd be okay even against a low-chuunin ninja. Her ninjutsu had improved with just one other jutsu in her arsenal. **Suiton: Teppodama**. She could do it reasonably well, but she couldn't do it more than three times before she tired herself out. Naruto had worked on her stealth and trap setting skills. She didn't kid Akemi, her current skills would not be enough to help her beat some of her stronger enemies, but they would be enough to allow her to escape to terrain which she knew and that would possibly give her the advantage to win. Naruto had given her a large blade made of chakra which was unnecessarily heavy, but Akemi managed to swing it comfortably. After all, it pays to have a medic as a sensei.

They had taken their time headed to Wave because Naruto wanted to recreate what she had felt with her own sensei whilst on the road. Naruto had received news that the two Akatsuki members had been beaten and they had recently defeated a shoton user. She hoped that they were alright. So much was happening around her and it all seemed so far away as she travelled to a destination which didn't hold much for her.

She sighed wistfully but carried on walking. Naruto knew that they would reach Wave before sunset if they sped up a bit.

"Akemi, we're going to be moving at a slightly faster pace. Let's go." Naruto said without turning around, before leaping into the trees and jumping from branch to branch. Akemi followed close behind.

"So, sensei. What are we supposed to do once we have this giant blade of yours?"

"Akemi, you'll see." Akemi's eyes sparkled at the idea of fighting rogue shinobi and falling in love. Naruto didn't notice this and kept on moving. After another hour or so, they reached a bridge. Emblazoned on it were the words, **The Great Naruto Bridge.**

Akemi looked at it in awe. "Naruto-sensei, you have a bridge this big named after you?"

"That's not all Akemi." They walked until they reached the other side of the bridge. In the centre of the circular clearing, there stood a statue of Naruto made out of a black stone.

"Whoa! This is ridiculous!"

"That statue was put up when I returned to Wave with my shishou and introduced a sensory barrier around it. So if somebody with high chakra levels entered it, certain beacons would go off." Akemi looked at her sensei with newfound respect. "We're not going to be spending our time here. Daikoku Tenzen has a fortress to the south of here. Let us be gone." They leapt up onto the rooftops before seemingly vanishing from sight. Naruto and Akemi walked toward a large fortress when they were some distance from town. They walked toward a large ornate gate but were stopped when the mercenaries pulled out their weapons.

Not risking getting any closer, Naruto called out to them. "We are emissaries of the Hi no Kuni Daimyo. We are here to collect a weapon which was won fairly off the missing-nin Zabuza." The men started laughing.

Then a bald one stepped forward. "Why would he send a woman to do this? Tell you what. You do me a favour sweet cheeks and I'll let you through to see the boss man."

"How about I beat you in a spar instead?" The men started to guffaw. "What is it? Scared to be beaten by a woman?" Silence swept across them.

"You know, I was going to let you go but since you have a mouth on you I think after I've beaten you, I can have some with you." The men leered but that soon disappeared as a blade seemingly appeared from nowhere in Naruto's hand.

"Let's see you try." The bald man ran forward but his eyes widened when his blade fell apart in his hand and his target had seemingly disappeared. He fell forward unconscious. Naruto's blade vanished and she walked toward the group of mercenaries. They stepped aside and let her through with a joyful Akemi skipping lightly at her side. The gates opened and she walked across the small bridge over a moat and entered. She walked up the stairs and found the man she believed to be Daikoku Tenzen sitting in his chambers.

"Daikoku Tenzen, I have come to collect the Kubikiri Houcho. We are representatives of Hi no Kuni and that is property which you have no right to."

"Who are you? How dare you just waltz into my personal chambers and demand such things of me. Get out or I will have you thrown out!" His tirade stopped when he felt a kunai to his throat. He noticed that the girl with the green haori had disappeared. He broke out into a cold sweat.

Naruto jumped back when the wall to her left exploded and a large man ran through the hole. Naruto's kunai extended into a katana and she effortlessly blocked his swing. Naruto calmly turned to Akemi. "I don't think this is the sword for you, I'm pretty sure that for the time being you can use the weapons created from my chakra. They're probably a lot stronger than this one." Naruto kicked out at the big man and he flew through the hole he had created.

Daikoku Tenzen bowed before them. "Please forgive my insolence. For the trouble I've caused you, please stay for a few nights." Naruto contemplated this before nodding. This would be good training for Akemi, constantly being surrounded by enemies sharpens one's intuition. They were led away to the lower levels where they were shown to adjoining bedrooms. Looking at the sky, she felt a chill go through her as the sun was reminiscent of blood. Shaking it off as best she could, she sat on her bed meditating. When the sun fell she slipped into a meditative sleep.

The next morning, Naruto was awoken by a scream. She opened her eyes and found Akemi with a kunai running toward a large slug. Naruto got up and grabbed Akemi's wrist before she could strike. Naruto turned to the slug after placing Akemi into a headlock. "Forgive her Katsuyu-sama; she is still not used to your presence."

"No harm done, Naruto-chan. However, I greet you this morning with sombre news. Uchiha Sasuke has killed Orochimaru."

"He isn't returning home, is he?" Katsuyu lowered her head. "Thank you Katsuyu-sama, I shall return to Konoha in a few days." Katsuyu disappeared in a puff of smoke. She noticed the limp body still in her headlock. Naruto let her go and Akemi began gasping for air on the floor.

"Akemi! Pack your things. We leave tomorrow." Akemi stood at attention fairly quickly. She knew that when her sensei spoke like that, you had to quickly do what she told you or else. Akemi nodded and left the room. Naruto got dressed and jumped out of her window. She landed silently as she ran back into town. Naruto activated her sensory abilities as she was searching for specific people she couldn't leave without seeing. Naruto entered the town and headed to the riverside. She heard some screams in the yoghurt shop but she walked on by thinking it had nothing to do with her. Turning a corner, Naruto transformed herself into a young brunette wearing a dull grey dress.

She found one of Tazuna's workers and found out that Tazuna and Inari had gone to Kaminari no Kuni. She was slightly disappointed at this turn of events but she thanked the man before walking back to town. She passed a pair of young men back into town. She almost scratched her eyes as she was certain one of them was Sasuke. _What could he be doing all the way out here?_ Naruto hid her chakra before following them. She hid behind a building before listening to their conversation. She found that they were looking for Zabuza's sword. Naruto left before they noticed her. After some distance, she began running to the fortress. The scene she arrived in was Akemi throwing a mercenary onto a pile of other mercenaries.

"Akemi, what are you doing?" Akemi looked at Naruto like a deer caught in the headlights. "The form of that throw was absolutely pathetic; you can do better than that." Akemi looked ashamedly at the ground. Naruto began feeling pain on her right shoulder and she deactivated her sensory abilities.

She walked back to her room before collapsing on her bed and falling asleep to the sound of Akemi's victims. Naruto was awoken in the middle of the night by Daikoku's cry of fury. Naruto activated her sensory abilities to find one strong chakra signature headed away at high speeds. Daikoku was alright, but slightly shaken up. She saw messenger birds fly speedily away through her window.

Suddenly her door flew open. "Get up! We're going to be attacked! If you know what's good for you, you'll leave as fast as you can!"

Naruto calmly got out of bed and put on her haori. "Akemi! Get ready for battle!" The man looked perplexed as he heard noises coming out of the room next door. He shook his head perplexed and left.

Naruto knew who had invaded the fortress in the dead of night. She had come to know his chakra as it was a necessity to help save her friend. _Sasuke, this time, I'm bringing you home._ Naruto flared her chakra and the wall with the window exploded outward. Akemi walked into her room and the both of them jumped out as the sun rose.

Naruto and Akemi sat next to the moat and waited. Naruto began to gather nature energy and felt her chakra become more potent.

Everybody within the castle walls was quiet and tense. There was much bustling then finally, thousands of hoof beats could be heard riding toward the castle. Naruto opened her eyes to find that the sun had risen well into the sky.

"Naruto-sensei, your eyes look so different."

"Don't worry Akemi, this is a technique taught to me by the toads. It increases my abilities to a higher degree. It also allows me to sense chakra and I can tell that the two shinobi headed our way have large amounts of chakra. This is going to be required. Akemi, I need you to flood the water with your chakra to weaken any water based techniques the enemy might use." Akemi nodded before getting up and placing her palm on the water. Naruto felt her chakra permeate the water and she hoped it would be enough to significantly weaken the enemies' jutsu.

The men tensed again when they heard the sounds of screaming men and the sounds of bodies hitting the ground seemed unnaturally loud. The men within the castle rushed out to help their comrades. A big man through the Kubikiri Houcho at her. Naruto grabbed it before allowing its weight to sink its point into the ground. The archers on the walls launched a barrage of arrows, but outside the walls a large fire could be seen consuming every single one.

The doors slowly opened and Naruto saw a white haired individual begin running to the castle entrance. Naruto launched her chains, piercing him, and forming a cage around his body before her chains swung like whips launching the cage into the wall on the other side of the moat.

Naruto frowned when she felt that his chakra was still fluctuating normally. Naruto walked forward and stepped onto the water of the moat and didn't show her surprise as water leaked out between the gaps and formed into the shinobi. He had a toothy grin as he pointed at a frowning Naruto.

"That sword behind you belongs to me. I'm going to take it whether you like it or not. You better pray to whatever god you worship that there isn't even a chip on that weapon." He made as if to rush her but stopped when Sasuke landed in front of him.

"Akemi! Stay behind me!" Akemi nodded before jumping behind Naruto. "Sasuke, come home. This is futile, revenge never solves anything. Please, let-"

"I told you a long time ago that you would not know how I feel, so stop speaking like you do." Sasuke still held an impassive expression. "I am going to get my revenge and then I'll do as I please."

"Sasuke..." Naruto murmured bending her head so her face was shadowed by her hair, before placing her gloved hand over her right eye. Naruto pumped chakra into her eyes and prepared a powerful genjutsu. Naruto looked up and met Sasuke's Sharingan. The world around them morphed and Sasuke was bound in metal chains.

"I tried to speak with you, but now it seems I'm going to have to fulfil my promise of beating you to a bloody pulp in order to take you home."

"Where did you get those eyes?" Sasuke finally spoke with an angry expression on his face.

"Didn't Orochimaru tell you? He poked and prodded at me, changing me into more than I already was. So Sasuke, I ask you again; will you come home?"

"Not until I have killed Itachi."

"I see. If you extract your revenge now, you will end up regretting it. Heed my advice Sasuke."

"I don't have time for this, let me go!" Sasuke yelled before the chains around him shattered but more shot out around him and pinned him down. Naruto shook her head and walked forward with her hand ablaze with chakra.

"I'm sorry Sasuke; I had forgotten how stubborn you could be." Naruto soon began placing her hand on his limbs, severing tendons and making him unable to walk. Swords and kunai appeared on the chains surrounding him before turning around and stabbing through him. Sasuke spat out blood but he was repeatedly stabbed. He finally had had enough and released large amounts of chakra, breaking through the genjutsu.

Naruto almost fell over from the pain the sudden breaking of the genjutsu had caused. Naruto saw Sasuke's partner look at him in shock as he fell forward.

"Sasuke, what happened? She didn't even move for a second."

"Suigetsu, she has a powerful genjutsu. Retrieve your weapon and let us retreat." Suigetsu grinned as he dashed toward Naruto. He attempted to grab her throat but she smashed her fist into his head and jumped back a safe distance when his head became water.

"You can't beat me; I am the worst possible opponent for you." Suigetsu grinned but his smile was soon lost in the wave of water Naruto cast at him. Naruto saw Suigetsu getting up with a large grin on his face.

Suigetsu lost his grin when he saw Naruto smirk before running through a sequence of hand seals and earth pillars rose up around him. She shot out her arm and a chain extended and embedded itself into one of the pillars before releasing a charge of electricity which would keep him trapped.

"Let me out of here you bitch! That Kubikiri Houcho is going to be mine, so save yourself the trouble and hand it over." Suigetsu smirked when he saw a large vein appear on the side of her forehead.

Naruto was about to electrocute him when she noticed Sasuke stand up. _How?! That genjutsu should have ensured that he wouldn't be getting up._

Sasuke stood shakily on his feet. "I have no time to waste here. Hand over the sword." Naruto tensed when she saw him pull out his Kusanagi. He vanished from view and she sensed his chakra behind her. Naruto turned to see him holding his sword to Akemi's neck.

"Let Suigetsu free, or she will die." Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw Naruto smirk. The child in front of him turned around and smiled before wooden constraints came out of her back before engulfing Sasuke and blocking him from view. Suddenly the wood exploded in an arc of electricity and Sasuke leapt out.

"You didn't really think I would endanger my student by letting her be a part of this fight, did you? Akemi! You can come out now!" Akemi came bouncing out from behind the rubble of the bedroom wall Naruto had blasted away.

Naruto smiled gently at her carefree behaviour.

"You know, you really shouldn't underestimate me." Sasuke grinned darkly before lightning crackled in his hand and extended in a blade and pierced Akemi through her chest. Naruto froze in a cold fury. She didn't react as Sasuke pulled out the Kubikiri Houcho and cut through the bonds which held Suigetsu. The two soon disappeared but not before seeing the murderous look on Naruto's face.

Naruto shunshined to Akemi's side and saw that the wound was unnecessarily deep. She clenched her teeth in silent rage and anger at what Sasuke had become. Naruto lifted her student gently and began to heal her. Hugging Akemi close to her chest as she wept silent tears.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it took so long but hey, I'm only 14. It takes a lot to get me motivated. I know it's not much but I hope you enjoy.**

Naruto smiled at the fight which had broken out between Akemi and Konohamaru. She had brought the both of them to a training ground to teach them the basics of the Rasengan. The fight had broken out when Konohamaru had let his chakra spin out of control and the backlash caused the both of them to hit the ground hard.

Naruto had returned to Konoha to ensure Akemi's safety. She would not make the same mistake twice. She now understood what it was that made the superiors of the village so edgy to let her leave the village, but that doesn't mean she was going to stay because of their orders.

Naruto had escorted the Mizu no Kuni Daimyo's daughter and all was well. Now, all she was waiting for was for Kakashi-sensei to return with the team he wanted in order to retrieve Sasuke. She stiffened when she heard movement in the trees but relaxed when she noticed it was a genin. He handed her a letter.

_I was wonderin' if you'd be a sport_

_And send me a report_

_Of where I can go_

_To relax and be mellow_

_I was thinking the Caribbean Sea_

_Where I can relax and just be me._

_K_

Naruto laughed and used Katon chakra to burn the letter. Kirabi somehow always knew when she was stressed and he always knew how to brighten her day. She nodded to the genin who left quickly. Having tired of Akemi's and Konohamaru's fight, she hit the both of them on the head. They held their heads as they squatted. They turned to Naruto with tears in their eyes.

"What did you do that for, Naruto-neechan?"

"Yeah, we weren't really doing anything wrong." Naruto was about to reprimand the two of them but was stopped when Sakura landed next to her. Sakura nodded at Naruto and promptly left.

"Konohamaru, Akemi, I expect this jutsu to be completed by the time that I return, got it?" They both nodded when they saw that Naruto was serious. Naruto shunshined to the front gate with her emerald green haori swirling around her as she appeared in front of her comrades.

Naruto looked at them and nodded at Jiraiya and Tsunade. Rain started falling as they led out of the village. Naruto created a large disc attached to a chain and held it up against the light drizzle. After a while, the rain ceased they slowed their pace. Reaching a town they'd heard Sasuke had passed through.

Leaping onto a tall building, which gave them a view of the surrounding terrain, they waited as Kakashi summoned his dogs.

"We will be maintaining a five kilometer radius. Each of you will be accompanied by at least one dog." Kakashi turned to Naruto. "Naruto, you can use your sensory ability but you will be traveling with Yamato and Hinata for added security measures."

"Kaka-sensei, five kilometers is a large distance though." Sakura said uncertainly.

"Sakura, don't worry. The dogs' nose and ears are extremely sensitive so we'll be able to maintain communication if we find something." Kakashi turned to his dogs. "Okay everybody, it's time to pair up." The dogs started sniffing the Konoha shinobi and threw some slight jabs at them. Naruto got big bark bull who was a fairly silent dog. They scattered when Kakashi gave them the signal.

Naruto activated her sensory abilities and immediately sensed Sasuke but she also sensed another sensor shinobi near Sakura. Naruto knew that the shinobi had already sensed her, but Naruto had already suppressed her chakra enough to seem that she was not a threat. She could have extinguished her chakra completely but then she wouldn't be able to activate her sensory abilities.

The unknown shinobi wasn't much of a threat to her but Naruto stiffened when she sensed the shinobi headed in Sasuke's direction.

Her group had reached a clearing but as she was about to pursue the unknown shinobi, she sensed Orochimaru's chakra. Immediately she sent a massive bludgeon in the direction of the chakra. She pulled it back when she saw a hooded figure appear at her team's side. The figure turned his head and everyone froze when they saw it was Kabuto.

"Hello Naruto-chan. I see you are doing rather well."

"Kabuto, where is Sasuke?!" As Naruto said that wood leapt out of the ground and ensnared Kabuto.

"You were Orochimaru's spy, there's no way we're letting you go now." Yamato said with his hands clasped together in a seal. They heard laughter as they saw Kabuto suddenly launched himself out of his wooden prison.

"I haven't come here to fight. I actually came here to give you a gift." Kabuto pulled a book out of his pouch and tossed it at the Konoha shinobi. They still couldn't get over the scales which covered the left side of his body. "The next time we meet, I will be a lot stronger and that is when I will fight you Naruto-chan. After all I made you a lot stronger, didn't I?" With a final chuckle he disappeared into hazy smoke.

Naruto clenched her fists when she felt her teammates' eyes on her. Shaking it off she picked the book up and opened it to reveal an Akatsuki bingo book. She handed it over to Yamato who placed into his pouch.

Naruto froze when she felt Sasuke's chakra elevate and almost screamed when she sensed that Deidara guy's chakra. He had not died after all. She dashed toward their battle at high speeds leaving Hinata and Yamato behind. She felt them follow her but she was pumping chakra into her legs allowing her to move at shunshin speeds.

This time, she would not lose Sasuke. She would save him from the dark place he was descending into. She had been running for some time and she sensed the other members of her team change direction and head toward her. Naruto stopped in a clearing when she sensed a chakra suddenly appear in front of her.

"Itachi, I know you're there." Naruto called out to the tree. She was itching to get to Sasuke but if she caught Itachi, Sasuke would have no choice but to come to them. Naruto formed a hand seal and three clones popped into existence, they took positions around Itachi. They activated their Mangekyou Sharingans and Itachi's eyes widened when he saw this. His eyes bled into their shruiken formation.

"I'm not here to fight; I am merely here to speak with you, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto."

"Well that's too bad because you're my ticket to seeing Sasuke again." Naruto began making her formation tighter. Chains from her clones and her body interlocked above Itachi, preventing him from escaping.

"Why do you care so much for my brother? He is a missing-nin of Konoha."

"Unlike you, I care about him for being himself. I don't care about anything but his well being."

"You sound like you love my brother, Naruto-san."

"I-" Naruto fell silent as she contemplated Itachi's words. Did she really love Sasuke? Naruto paid attention to what she felt when she thought of Sasuke. It was love that much she could guess but it felt warm and a deeper care than that of attraction. Firm in her belief she met Itachi's eyes with determination.

"I think of him more as a brother than you ever would."

"You think of him more as a brother than I ever would." Itachi raised his brow. "But what would you do should Sasuke turn against Konoha?"

"There is no way that Sasuke would do that!" Naruto said firmly even though she had a sinking feeling in her chest.

"Don't be so naïve. We live in a world of shinobi. Sasuke is still young and impressionable. Again I ask, what would you do?"

Naruto examined Itachi's blank face before smirking. "For me, there is no choice. I will save Sasuke from his darkness whilst still protecting Konoha." At that Itachi developed a small smile on his face.

"Since you seem so adamant on protecting my brother, I will give you a bit of my power. I doubt you will even need it with those eyes of yours." A crow popped out of Itachi's mouth and flew into Naruto's mouth. Naruto gagged but recovered quickly after it was sealed within her.

"This will be the last time we will meet, Naruto-san. I hope you manage to save my otouto." With that, he disappeared in a haze. Naruto stared at the place he had disappeared before dispelling her shadow clones and deactivating her eyes as her teammates met up with her.

"Naruto! What were you thinking?!" Sakura said as she ran at Naruto with a cocked fist. Sakura leapt at Naruto but Naruto leapt over Sakura. Sakura's fist hit the ground splintering it. Sakura walked up to Naruto after calming down. "Well at least you haven't let your guard down." Stepping closer, Sakura hugged Naruto and whispered, "Don't ever do that again; I don't know what I would ever do if I lost you too."

Naruto hugged her back. "I'm sorry, when I felt his chakra I didn't think." Sakura pulled away and nodded but smiled as she saw Naruto's wide smile. Everyone froze when they saw a large light pierce an area not that far from them. Naruto tensed and was about to deliver news of Sasuke's demise but she sensed it again some distance away. Naruto blinked away the tears that had started forming. She had to remain strong for Sakura's sake.

"Sasuke was involved in that battle. He is fine but is surrounded with odd chakras. We can assume that they are dangerous if underestimated." Everybody nodded and they headed out again. After a bit more running they arrived at the place where Naruto had sensed Sasuke's chakra. There was nothing but a large purple snake.

"Manda?! What could have possibly killed him?" Naruto asked remembering the great snake when Orochimaru had faced off against the other Sannin.

"He was probably used as a shield in that explosion. Space-time ninjutsu perhaps?" Kakashi turned to Yamato.

"It seems like it Kakashi-senpai." Deciding to set up camp for a short while, they headed into the forest.

At night, Naruto found it hard to sleep. Her body seemed to have an inert keep moving and getting stronger. Naruto moved some distance from her teammates, noting that Kakashi and Yamato as well as Sai noticed her.

Naruto created some Moku bunshin and had them transform into a perfect Susano'o. The wraiths stood in silence before suddenly leaping at Naruto. Large pins shot out of Naruto and attempted to impale the wraiths. The pins bounced off of them and Naruto was forced to speedily dodge their attacks. They came at her in coordinated speed and strength. She was hit multiple times before she got used to their movements. She had activated her Sōzō Saisei to heal the damage the clones had inflicted because they were not stopping.

The terrain around her looked like a titan had wondered through. Naruto activated her Mangekyou allowing her Susano'o to reveal itself. Deciding that tonight was enough. Naruto coordinated her attacks causing her Susano'o to pull out its Amaterasu kunai and cut viciously through the clones.

When her chakra evaporated, she fell to one knee. Her chakra was fine but her body hurt. She would have to learn to get used to it. The Sōzō Saisei removed the pain quickly. She sealed it and wiped the sweat on her brow. Naruto walked to a small deep river she'd heard running. She took off her haori, sandals, body suit with headband and gloves putting them on the bank behind her.

Naruto stepped into the cool water and shivered slightly but it felt good on her warm skin. Having cooled down she stepped out and got dressed. Reaching their camp site, Naruto jumped onto a tree branch then fell asleep after putting her back against the trunk.

The team had been running very quickly in Sasuke's direction. Naruto flared her chakra dangerously high causing a tower of chakra to reach into the sky. This caused the other sensor to immediately extinguish her chakra. Naruto smirked. Deciding to stall them, Naruto ran ahead of her team and attempted to catch up with Sasuke's team.

Naruto circled around them at high speeds and stood in a branch ahead of them. Since their sensor was currently out of commission, she could surprise them from her vantage point. To their credit, they noticed her before stopping a short distance away.

"Sasuke, I'm here to take you home. Please come quietly."Sasuke remained impassive as his teammates tensed. Naruto guessed that the sensor had already informed them of her.

"I don't know who you are but Sasuke is the reincarnation of Kimimaru, and that means I won't let you get in the way of his goals." The orange haired male of the group said determinedly.

"Yeah, who are you to order Sasuke around." The red haired individual shouted at her.

"Juugo, Karin, don't take her lightly. She beat Sasuke relatively easily when we were still searching for the Kubikiri Houcho." Naruto scrutinised every member then her eyes widened on the red haired individual.

"You there, are you an Uzumaki?"

"What is it to you?"

"It's just that I will regret fighting against a relative of mine." Karin's eyes widened at this before turning to look at Sasuke then huffing haughtily.

"Enough talk, we're going to charge our way through if we have to." Suigetsu shouted before launching himself quickly at Naruto. Naruto quickly released a blade before channelling condensed Fuuton chakra into it. Her blade met Suigetsu's before cutting through it like butter. Naruto launched out a strong kick forcing Suigetsu back and making him splatter on a tree trunk.

Naruto jumped back before placing her hand hard on Juugo's, forcing him through the tree branch and down into the ground below. Naruto noticed that Sasuke had already gotten past her. She was about to chase him when a warp in the air appeared. The orange masked individual that appeared out of it told Suigetsu and Juugo to go on ahead. The two promptly leapt into action.

Naruto and the orange masked individual were left alone. Naruto's eyes immediately bled into red with slits. She had lost control of her emotions before red chakra began bubbling out of her.

"You! You took my parents from me!" Naruto's claws lengthened as she crouched and her canines lengthened. Naruto sensed that her teammates would take some time to get to her. She launched herself at the masked man and had a fist in front of his face in less than a second. Naruto slipped right through him. She hit a tree and pulled herself out of the rubble to see him rubbing the back of his head.

"Now now, there's no need to fight. Tobi is a good boy."

"Don't screw with me!" Naruto clenched her fist. "You attacked Konoha sixteen years ago and at first I thought you were Madara, but that can't be true seeing as Kabuto had recently discovered Madara's real body before Orochimaru's demise. Why he didn't reveal this to Orochimaru, I don't know. So, who are you?"

The man's voice deepened. "Well, I guess there's no point in me beating around the bush. I want Sasuke and you've shown some interesting abilities yourself but it's a pity you will have to become a sacrifice. I want to achieve peace but now I can't tell you anymore of my plans because I know you would do anything to try and stop me."

Naruto ran at him and passed through him again. Landing some distance from him, Naruto felt herself freeze as she was being sucked into a type of vortex. Naruto threw a chakra kunai and immediately teleported to it.

"It seems that you have learned the Yondaime's jutsu. He's still a troublesome man, even in death." The masked man ran at Naruto, causing her to throw a punch but he phased right through it. He turned around to grab Naruto but suddenly he was hit with a crippling blow from behind. The masked man analyzed the battle field and saw indiscreet markings all around the area. He landed in a tree before causing it to topple.

Naruto saw 'Tobi' get up with the side of his cloak torn. His right arm seemed to melt as it fell. Naruto could identify a Sharingan from the cracked side of his mask. Naruto activated her own Mangekyou. Naruto attempted to subdue the individual in Tsukuyomi. He seemed subconsciously to be able to fight against it. Naruto grit her teeth in frustration before launching Amaterasu at him. He started burning and Naruto smiled but frowned when she saw the black flames absorbed into his right eye.

Naruto's teammates reached her as a Venus-fly trap looking individual appeared out of the tree next to Tobi. Naruto now knew where the foul chakra corrupting the earth came from. All those times before, it was him!

"Uchiha Itachi is dead, Sasuke has won."

"Thank you Zetsu." Tobi turned to the Konoha shinobi. "It's been fun, but I have to be going." He disappeared along with Zetsu. Naruto sensed Tobi reach Sasuke almost instantaneously. The Konoha shinobi were about to chase them down.

"There's no point, they've already reached Sasuke. We're going to have to try another time." Naruto turned and began walking in the direction of Konoha with tears in her eyes. "My students are waiting for me."

Everyone was quiet as they watched her go. They received a messenger bird for another mission, before they released the bird; they tied a note explaining Naruto's return.

Naruto watched Akemi and Konohamaru spar. Konohamaru had summoned a staff where as Akemi had taken to large wooden sword. Naruto knew herself not to be a quitter, but she realized how futile it was to chase Sasuke whilst he was in the custody of that madman. He probably would have used Sasuke against her to get to the Kyuubi.

"Aim for an area parallel to his staff Akemi. Konohamaru your swings are too wide; you're wasting energy." Naruto looked at them fondly as they corrected their mistakes. They had quickly formed a rivalry but Naruto could see it was laced with a strong friendship. Akemi had quickly befriended Ebisu's other students.

"When I come back, I expect you too to perform your techniques flawlessly, am I understood?" The two nodded quickly before twin smiles formed on their faces.

Naruto teleported to her compound where she viewed the empty buildings that orphanage had been located. The young fresh-out-of-the-academy genin that used to be a part of the orphanage had paid off a large piece of land where the caretakers could move to because they felt they were being a hindrance. Naruto had tried to protest this but their minds had been made up. She smiled fondly at the memories of young laughter.

Naruto walked into her home and she still walked past Santo's room, almost expecting him to be there. He hadn't returned from liaising with Jiraiya. She thought that he would have returned by now but she guessed being around somebody like Jiraiya often made somebody forget about the world around them. She wouldn't admit this out loud to anybody but she had come to care deeply for Santo, seeing as he was one of the only links to her mother's home country.

Her teammates had still to return but she didn't worry that much about them. As long as they were together they would be fine. Shaking off her heavy thoughts she exited her home and began tending her garden. Naruto periodically injected her Mokuton chakra into her plants; strengthening them against whatever ailed them.

Feeling a cold shiver; Naruto frowned at the foreboding feeling which had entered her body and she knew it had something to do with Sasuke.

**Please Review. I feel kind of sad about the lack of feedback. Do you like it or hate it? Please, feel free to leave your comments by clicking on the box at the bottom of the page. And if you think I made Naruto powerful, please bare with me. She's got the fourth hokage's jutsu for crying out loud and she's been taught by two Sannin but if you feel she's still too powerful drop a comment and if you want me to add something, DROP A COMMENT! PLEASE ****!**


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto was walking through the forest in the morning to get some herbs, when suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. Naruto froze before looking behind her. Shaking it off, she looked around and noted the different types of plants and made a catalogue in her mind before taking a map out of a seal on her own and marking the area.

Feeling that she had done all that she had to, Naruto decided to head back to Konoha. Having set up a marker in Tsunade's office, Naruto transported herself there.

"Yo, baa-chan." Naruto said before putting the rolled up map on Tsunade's desk. "That is where you will find a large array, for your poultices."

Tsunade looked up from what she was reading. "Thank you Naruto." Tsunade closed her book and leaned back into her chair. "I know you've been wondering when I would be mentioning your jounin promotion, but the elders feel that I can't give you that title until you've proven yourself. So now I've been forced to put together a team of chuunin for you to take on a patrol mission."

"What?! Baa-chan, patrols are so boring! Get somebody else to do it!"

"Naruto, you're not hearing me. If you do not do this mission, you won't be promoted. Now, what is going to happen is that you will take the rookie chuunin and you will show them the routes you travelled in your time as a genin. Do you understand?"

Naruto contemplated this with clenched jaws. She still had so much training to do. Her Sennin Mode had been thrown out of synch ever since her chakra levels had changed. Her chakra control was fine and she had to finish getting used to the backlashes of her Dojutsu. If she did not correct some of these things, she'd be a serious handicap to future teammates.

"Fine, but this will only be for a week right?"

"It depends how quickly you fulfill your duties." Tsunade said with a smirk. Naruto felt her anger rise, seeing as Tsunade gave her rookies to waste her time. Naruto walked out with her haori swirling around her, but not before kicking Tsunade's door down. Tsunade sighed. _Such a temper, I wonder where she gets it from._

Suddenly a tick mark appeared on Tsunade's forehead. _That gaki! She left before her team was assigned to her!_ "Naruto!"

Naruto heard her name being called as she was leaving the Hokage tower. She immediately ran back to her shishou's office, knowing Tsunade's temper. "What?!" Naruto shouted pompously.

"Don't give me lip gaki. You left your teammates folders. You will be leaving in an hour. Make sure you read on each and every one of them."

"Baa-chan," Naruto had anime tears running down her cheeks, "Why are you being so mean to me? What have I ever done to warrant your hatred of me?" Naruto hung her head.

"You know pouting will not work on me. Now take these files off of my desk and go meet your teammates."

"Roshi Takara." The red headed male with smooth hair belted with a strong salute.

"Rei Toshiro." The spiky haired brunette male followed suit.

"Taki Gozu." The pale blue haired female with shoulder length hair imitated the other two.

"It's nice to meet you!" Naruto said sheepishly while scratching the back of her head. The three chuunin looked at her expectantly. "Right, as you all know; this is a patrol mission. We won't be out for long."

The three of them nodded and they set out. Every few trees or so, Naruto would lay out a formula marker. She could transport long distances but they took a lot of chakra. They ran through standard procedure and checked the traps. They moved on like this for most of their week. Naruto had been open on how she saw things, and thus camaraderie had been founded in their team.

On their last day before they would head back to Konoha, Naruto had detected a large number of chakra signatures headed for Konoha. She and her team had gone to check it out. What they had seen was terrifying to say the least. A large army of bandits and mercenaries were setting up camp. When they had assessed that the numbers were near two thousand and that they were headed to pillage Konoha, Naruto turned to her team.

"I need you three to return to Konoha and warn them of this threat. I will do my best to slow their progress."

"But sempai-"

"-No buts. You three need to watch each other's backs and take the trapped routes. I need you three to survive so that you can deliver this message to Konoha, and we don't know if more will be coming." Naruto gave them a small smile as they reminisced about the time they spent together.

"Now go, I'll strike when the sun goes down. I expect you in Konoha by tomorrow morning." They all nodded with tears in their eyes. They quickly vanished. Naruto merged with the tree she was standing on and made her way unseen through the camp. She noted weak spots, but they weren't big enough to be exploited. She surmised that that she would have to go in all guns blazing.

Naruto moved to the outskirts of the stronger portion of the camp. As soon as dusk fell, she activated her Dojutsu. Naruto rained Amaterasu on any portion of land she could see. She successfully managed to kill off a large number but it still would not be enough to tilt the scales in her favour. Naruto directed Amaterasu toward the other portion of their camp. Naruto cursed upon seeing nine tenths of the army rallying themselves.

She let them wait as the last of the sun's rays vanished. When she was sure tension had built up long enough, Naruto created Kage Bunshin silently and had them begin massacring the mercenaries and placing some others under genjutsu. Sadly they didn't get far in their guerilla tactics as they were soon cut down along with those under her genjutsu. One of the mercenaries turned and looked at Naruto's hiding place. She saw his eyes widen and she flicked a kunai at him, but not before he had alerted the others.

Those with ninja abilities immediately pounced in her direction. She seamlessly dodged their attacks and countered with her strength. They flew almost lifelessly into the trees in the area. Naruto leapt back as kunai and shruiken were thrown at her. Naruto finally decided it was an all or nothing battle. She clasped her hands together and a forest of barbed vines grew with gaseous flowers.

Naruto merged with her plant and she quickly began to pick out individuals on the outskirts, but what she hadn't counted on was a large number of shinobi in the group. Naruto remembered that the Shodaime Hokage's mokuton was near impervious to Katon jutsu, but she still had not perfected the balance in hers. There was sadly too little water in her plants and thus they began burning erratically. Naruto moved to higher ground and sensed easily more than half of the forces had escaped and were headed toward Konoha. Naruto teleported to her markers and she caught up to the faster individuals of the group. She took them down but more made their way past her and she was struggling to deal with the ones in front of her.

Naruto teleported to her markers further back and she sent clones to plant formula markers in a wider berth. This was where she would make her stand. She sensed an individual to her right and she teleported to a marker nearest to there. She pulled out a katana and hacked him in half. She didn't have time to worry about how many she would kill before the next sunrise.

Naruto repeated this process and she soon began to pant from the exertion of the task. Naruto sensed their numbers slowly dwindling. They were soon going to overwhelm her. Naruto had no choice. She ran through some hand seals before chains shout out of her. **Kamaitachi no Jutsu, **scythes of wind made their way through the larger part of the forest. Naruto heard screams as their numbers dwindled quickly.

She sighed in relief that they out in the forest instead of inside Konoha where civilians could get hurt. When she felt the remaining members turn back, about five hundred men strong, she allowed herself a small smile before her vision became blank.

Naruto awoke with the noon sun in her eyes. She got up quickly only to fall to her knees. _Damn, I used too much chakra._ Naruto released the last dredges of the chakra she had stored. Naruto gathered some nature energy before she departed. Her shaky limbs stilled and she headed back to Konoha at top speeds. Before she could get used to the pace she had set, Naruto sensed an explosion of raw chakra near Konoha. The life forces she detected through Sennin Mode started fading but most of them remained stable.

Naruto teleported the long distance in Konoha, only to find herself in a dust filled crater. Not sure what was going on, Naruto created a moku bunshin and had a chakra enforced branch attached to her back. The clone moved to the far outskirts and began gathering nature chakra and fed it to Naruto. Naruto immediately bit her thumb and ran through hand seals since she detected large masses of chakra. She slammed her hands down summoning Gamabunta, Gamahiro and Gamaken with the toad sages and Gamakichi. Looking around she heard more than saw the puffs of smoke. Out of it came six figures with orange hair and the Rin'negan. Naruto's eyes widened at this. Looking around at her home, she took in the destruction.

Naruto pointed at the new comer with furrowed brows. "I will not forgive you! I will make you pay!"

Fukusaku jumped down and landed on her shoulder. "Naruto, there is something you need to know. The people who stand before you are not the real Pein. They are but puppets in the grander scheme of things. They are also the ones who killed Jiraiya-chan and Santo-boyo. I am sorry." Naruto froze.

"Thank you for appearing before us, it saves us the trouble of having to come looking for you." The one in the front said emotionlessly.

"I don't care. I will never forgive you for this. I'll kill you." Naruto said with as much hate as she could muster. Naruto had been about to attack when Tsunade had landed in front of her.

Tsunade stood before Pein. "You have trampled on the dreams of my ancestors and predecessors. You have tried to crush the jewel which I hold dear. I am the Godaime Hokage, and I will destroy you!"

"Our business is not with you." Pein said emotionlessly, before the mechanical body of the group launched itself at Tsunade. Naruto managed to intercept it by slamming it into the ground.

"Baa-chan, the Godaime Hokage doesn't have to bother herself with filth like him. Go and rest so you can recover faster." Tsunade was about to protest, "I can see your forehead baa-chan. I know how much it takes out of you. Tell everybody to stay away; it will be a bother to fight while I'm trying to protect somebody." Naruto turned back to Pein.

"Naruto, take Katsuyu. I know she will be useful." Tsunade pulled out a small slug and it crawled under Naruto's Haori. "She has Intel on them." Shiba jumped on Naruto's other shoulder, opposite her husband.

"Right now may not be the right time to ask this question, but where is Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto was met with silence. "I see... Gamakichi, get Tsunade-baa-chan out of here." Gamakichi jumped off his father's head before grabbing Tsunade and jumping away.

The orange haired female of the group summoned a large rhinoceros creature which immediately charged at Naruto. Naruto didn't waste any time as she grabbed its horn and stopped it before throwing it into the air. The female slammed both her palms down and a multi-headed dog and a bison came charging at her. The two sages jumped into the air. **Senpou: Frog Song.** The beasts were successfully stopped and Naruto ran past them. She created two Kage Bunshin and they created Giant Rasengan. Each turned to the beast near them and pushed their attack into them. **Senpou: Odama Rasengan.**

Whilst all of the beasts were in the air, the toads were allocated to get rid of them. Naruto ran forward and the fat member stepped forward. Katsuyu crept up onto Naruto's shoulder.

"Ninjutsu won't work on the Pein in front of you. He will merely absorb all of your ninjutsu techniques."

"Then we will go with Frog Kumite." Naruto ducked as he tried to pierce her with his rod and she went to hit him. He dodged it but suddenly he felt a massive hit and he fell back dead. Naruto saw Pein scrutinize his deceased body.

"I have no time to waste here. I will finish this with one of my newest techniques." Naruto created a Rasengan which began to extend and a high pitched wailing filled the area.

"I see you have become a Sennin, just like Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto frowned. "I also learned jutsu form Jiraiya-sensei. So as sibling disciples, we should be able to understand one another. Our master desired peace."

"Shut the hell up!" Silence reigned. "Look around you, where is the peace in what you have done!"

"You're only looking at the tree and not the whole forest. You don't know the true meaning of peace, so come quietly. Your death will lead to peace."

Naruto reared her hand back. "I told you, to shut the hell up." Naruto threw her Rasenshruiken. Pein leapt back but the female was left behind. The long haired Pein grabbed her and threw her out of the way. Naruto formed the ram seal and it expanded and began cutting him to shreds. The female summoned a giant bird which flew at Naruto and attempted to pierce her with its beak. Naruto jumped over it to witness an explosion of chakra take place. Naruto looked back to see the toads struggling against the dividing dog. The summoning individual landed next to Naruto.

Shiba leapt into the air. **Senpou: Sunabokori**, creating a giant dust cloud. Suddenly both of them found themselves in a dark place. Naruto used her Sennin Mode to find her opponent and used a double Rasengan, killing her opponent. They were both released by Gamabunta who rolled his tongue out. Naruto began panting as her chakra feed had been broken and she reverted back to her original state. She looked around and noticed the summons had disappeared.

Naruto saw the lead and ran toward it. Gamabunta tried to stall Pein but he was too small to keep track of. Naruto stopped as the Pei with the spiky orange hair landed in front of her. She engaged him in Taijutsu and she mercilessly began to pummel him. She kicked him and he flew back. Naruto's eyes widened as she saw him still manage to get up. She felt Fukusaku place something wooden on her shoulder she assimilated it and found her Sennin Mode reactivate.

Naruto didn't waste any time as she formed another Rasenshruiken, she threw it but she was stopped as the Pein she had killed earlier leapt forward and absorbed it. Naruto threw down smoke bombs and out of it came a Rasenshruiken. Pein stepped forward and attempted to absorb it, but it transformed into vines which wrapped around his eyes and pierced them with thorns. Another Rasenshruiken was launched and the spiky haired Pein seemingly deflected it.

Out of the sky came a Kage Bunshin of Naruto and she pounded a double Rasengan into the Pein at the back, having been told that he could revive others. Two more clones came out of the smoke, headed directly for the last Pein. **Shinra Tensei.**

Naruto found herself thrown back and skidding along the ground. She stopped next to Fukusaku.

"Are you alright, Naruto?"

"Yeah." Naruto stood up and saw the fat Pein get up and rip the vines from his face. Naruto grimaced when she noticed that she had missed his eyes. Naruto leapt back as the toads began trying to pummel them.

**Shinra Tensei**. Naruto turned to see all of the toads launched out of the village. "Naruto, his weakness is genjutsu, we need time so the jutsu can activate."

"This is the furthest Pein has ever been pushed. **Banshou Tennin.**" Naruto felt herself being pulled toward them. Before she could do anything, she was caught by the other Pein. Naruto began struggling.

"Enough of that. I won't kill you. You are, of course, a precious Jinchuuriki."

"Ha, this doesn't hurt at all. Now it's my turn."

"Your Sennin Mode is going to be a problem." Naruto stopped struggling as she felt her chakra being drained and she felt her feed be roughly pulled out. Naruto allowed herself to go limp as she began absorbing more chakra. She had to rely on her Sennin Mode, because she was too exhausted from her previous endeavors.

Naruto broke free and she started panting on the ground. Fukusaku and Shiba were about to begin their genjutsu, but Pein used his technique to pull Fukusaku closer. Naruto ran forward and intercepted Pein's rod but it managed to pierce Fukusaku. Naruto began to fell light headed and suddenly, her body was flooded with hatred and renewed energy. She pushed away but he held her and pierced her hands holding her down. He pierced the rest of her body.

"You cannot move. I am only working toward the goal our sensei, Jiraiya had been trying to achieve and that is peace."

"I know Jiraiya-sensei wanted peace, but this is not the way to do it."

"Then what would you do? There is an endless cycle of hate in this world that I intend to break using the Bijuu. For this, I need the Kyuubi you hold within you. I will create a Bijuu weapon and the pain caused by this weapon will be enough to deter war. And the world will be on the road to stability and peace."

"But that peace is nothing more than a farce."

"Humans are not the most intelligent of creatures. This is the only way. After many decades the pain will find and thus war will begin again, and this time the fear will be even greater. This weapon will become a greater deterrent. And for a time, peace will be restored again.

"Now, come with me." Pein raised his hand but leapt back when a large blade hit the place he had once been.

"I will not let you take Naruto-sensei!"

"Akemi, get back. This is not your battle!"

"Naruto-sensei, you always taught me that one doesn't abandon their comrade." Akemi turned to Naruto with a fox grin. "I will make you proud." Suddenly Akemi was lifted into the air and dragged toward Pein. Pein lifted her and threw her on the ground before him. He pierced her with one of his rods.

"This was how my parents died; killed before my very eyes by Konoha shinobi." Naruto stared wide eyed at the blood which began to seep through the ground. The hatred with the energy within her, increased to giant proportions and she found herself numb to the world.

Pein witnessed a red energy bubble out of Naruto. "So this is the Kyuubi's power?" Suddenly, Naruto's body exploded and a red mass of chakra was born. The Kyuubi created a tornado which was launched at Pein. He negated it with ease.

The Kyuubi used its four tails to lift up giant stone which were held up by large tree roots. Once they were established, it launched boulders at Pein who redirected them with practiced ease. Pein was hit with a large structure which he blew up before it could do too much damage. Kyuubi used this distraction to get though Pein's defenses and managed to land a punch on him. Pein recovered but Kyuubi launched its tails and broke apart one of the platforms and used that to beat Pein into the ground. Taunting it some more, caused Kyuubi to release its fifth tail which came as energy from the sky and a skull along with a skull and leg came into being.

Pein hit the ground condensing the water in the ground and roots causing it to vault outward onto the battle field in torrents. Pein saw the flailing Kyuubi and moved at high speeds toward it. Its tails extended and put Pein on the defensive. Once Pein stopped moving, condensed chakra was launched at him. Pein deflected them until they stopped.

"Is that all you're capable of?" Suddenly out of the steam came one chakra ball which split up into multiple others, pushing Pein back. Kyuubi's sixth tail grew and it began tearing at the landscape.

Pein grew wide eyed when he witnessed roots grow out of Kyuubi which seemed to absorb its power as well as a green energy came out around its neck. The Kyuubi's power was forced back with a rejuvenated Naruto in its place.

Pein didn't have time to contemplate how she had regained control as a skeletal structure of a miniature Kyuubi was formed and chakra was condensed inside of it, concealing Naruto. Naruto ran at Pein. One of the tails of her structure moved forward to attempt to pierce him. He held it back but was launched into the side of a mountain. Naruto began condensing chakra but Pein suddenly appeared out of the ground, taking a large chunk of rock out of the mountain side. It landed on Naruto, but was quickly destroyed when her chakra bomb exploded.

This caused water to flow outward and Pein decided to retreat. Naruto vaulted forward at high speeds with water trailing behind her. Pein dodged when her tails extended in an attempt to pierce him. Pein launched himself off a cliff and landed lightly on the water only to run again when Naruto appeared behind him.

Naruto lost sight of Pein in the mist of the area they were in. Seeing a black ball of chakra being launched out if a tree. Naruto launched water at the area causing Pein to jump out of his hiding spot. **Chibaku Tensei**

Naruto quickly released her technique seeing that objects with heavier mass were drawn in faster. Realizing that the black ball of chakra was causing this Naruto activated her Mangekyou Sharingan. She had her Susano'o create a chain of fuuma shruiken like structures and released it into the ball of rock being formed. Her chain dug through it, and it exploded.

Naruto fell to her knees when she felt the pain of using Susano'o. The spectral figure dissipated. Naruto stood up and saw Pein panting as well. **Shinra Tensei**

Naruto created an army of Kage Bunshin that helped her withstand the force of Pein's jutsu. Most of her clones popped out existence. Pein sat down knowing he had five seconds before he could use his techniques again. One of Naruto's clones used her monstrous strength to launch Naruto at Pein. The Rasengan Naruto had created earlier was driven into Pein's stomach and he was launched spinning into a rocky outcropping.

Naruto used Sennin Mode to pinpoint the real Pein's body and prepared to meet with him.

Naruto found herself sweating and exhausted after the adrenaline had left her system. She leaned against a tree and was about to keel over when she felt a shoulder to lean on.

Naruto smiled. "Kaka-sensei."

"Just lean on me." Kakashi gave her a piggy back ride all the way into the village. What awaited them was a mass of people who cheered upon seeing Naruto. Once she was put on the ground the kids ran up to her and started pulling at her clothes.

"Ah, stop pushing and pulling. It hurts you know?"Naruto said. She froze when she felt a small hand grab at her breasts. Before she could see who did it, the hand was retracted. "Who was that?! When I find you I'm going to make you pay!" Naruto said glaring at all of them, but they wouldn't stop asking questions. Naruto sensed danger and ducked, and Sakura flew past her; kicking a tree down.

"You reckless idiot!" Sakura shouted with tears in her eyes. She went up to Naruto and gave her a hug. "Thank you."

Naruto sat in her makeshift office allocating resources all over Konoha. Tazuna had come to Konoha along with Inari to aid in the rebuilding of Konoha. Naruto had been busy using her Mokuton to build houses along with Yamato everyday to get Konoha back on its feet. Her compound had been destroyed along with everything else so she was sleeping in a makeshift house outside of Konoha's walls which was connected to her office. Naruto sighed as she would miss Akemi. She had returned home because she hadn't seen her family for some time.

Naruto had assumed that when Tsunade had named Naruto her successor, that it would be a few more years before she took the position of Hokage. Today was the day everything would be made official. The jounin were going to vote in favour of or against her taking of the position.

Naruto woke up and washed at a nearby stream. She dressed in her normal attire and headed toward the newly constructed council room. Naruto walked calmly through the newly built streets of Konoha. It had been a week since Pein's attack and everything was on track. Naruto walked up the stairs of the Hokage 'Tower' and entered the hallway and passed the different rooms which would soon start filling with paperwork. Naruto briefly contemplated withdrawing from the position.

Reaching the large double doors, Naruto took a deep breath to steady herself; before pushing the doors open.

She was greeted by the sight of the lecture like room filled with bodies of excited individuals. At the bottom was a long table with the clan heads sitting calmly, waiting for her to take her seat at the head. Koharu and Homura sat at her right. They nodded to her with Danzou merely glancing in her direction. Hyuuga Hiashi stood up, seeing as he had the most influence in the room.

"We are here today for you to select who will be leading Konoha as Tsunade-sama's successor. As we all know, Tsunade-sama had selected Naruto. Are there any objections among those of the floor?" Hiashi looked around and waited. When he was sure there were none, he began to speak. "Well then, I'd-"

"Well actually Hiashi-dono, I have something to say." Danzou stood up. "We all know the Daimyo is also in support of Namikaze-san's taking of the position, but surely she's too young? We need somebody who has experience in the field of shinobi." Danzou looked around, seeing doubt begin to cloud the faces of others.

"Danzou, I may be young but you need to remember that I was made jounin." Naruto said calmly.

"Yes, but that was recent was it not?" Danzou asked airily.

"But not undeserved, correct?" Naruto questioned, hiding her smirk. "I realize that you fear my leading at such a young age, but I will not be alone in doing so. I will you and the advisors to help me in the running of the village." An idea struck Naruto. "You need only look at the past week to see if I'm competent." Naruto looked around and noticed confidence being instilled yet again in her abilities.

"So Danzou, what is your decision? Will you let me take office?" Naruto waited until Danzou nodded and sat down.

Hiashi cleared his throat. "We congratulate and welcome you Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage." Cheers echoed around the council room.

"I thank you all for placing your trust in me. Let's get back to work." As Naruto was about to leave Shizune walked in and dumped a wad of paperwork onto her desk. The ninja began laughing as they shunshined out.

"Naruto make sure that this is all finished by the time I get back. Tsunade-sama's vitals are stable and I want to keep them that way." Shizune promptly left. Naruto found herself alone. She sighed as she began reading through reports and any strange movements outside Konoha's borders. Tired of all of this she made two clones to do it.

Naruto was about to leave when a shinobi opened the door and lead a party from Kumo in.

"Hokage-sama, forgive the intrusion. A company of Kumo nin has requested an audience from you."

Naruto nodded, "You may go, thank you." The shinobi nodded and promptly left. Naruto turned to the shinobi and her face lit up in recognition. "Samui? Karui? Darui? When was the last time I saw any of you?"

Samui stepped forward with a grim expression. "It is good to see you Naruto; however, I wish it had been under better circumstances." Samui handed over an envelope to Naruto. Naruto opened it and managed to keep a calm face whilst reading it.

"Sasuke joined Akatsuki and captured Kirabi-sensei?" Naruto looked up at them. They all nodded. "That is impossible. I fought Sasuke and I know his power level, there is no way he could have beaten Kirabi even if he had gained a power boost."

"The facts speak for themselves. Kirabi-shishou's body was taken by Sasuke after Amaterasu had been used against him." Naruto closed her eyes.

"Give me some time to digest everything. I will have an answer before noon." The three nodded and left. Naruto summoned the advisors.

"What is it Naruto-dono?" Koharu spoke up.

"It appears that Kumo is requesting the death of Uchiha Sasuke. I will be forced to declare him a missing-nin. What do I do?"

"The only thing I can suggest is to do as Kumo requests. We do not want war while we are still weakened." Danzou said impassively. "Normally I would be against eliminating a potential asset, but he is so far gone that he has become a liability." The advisors nodded gravely. "And if the Kage summit is about what I think it is, Sasuke is going to be wanted internationally anyway."

"Thank you, I'll mull things over." They nodded and left. Naruto activated her sensory abilities to find the Kumo-nin. Naruto sensed them in a battle with Sakura and Sai. She quickly teleported to the marker she had on Sakura. She arrived in time to hold Karui's and Sai's wrists, preventing them from killing each other. She let them go and they both sheathed their weapons.

"Samui, your request is accepted and you may follow one of the shinobi I assign to retrieve the required Intel on Uchiha Sasuke."

"Naruto what are you-"

"Sakura, hush. Go to the archives and inform them I have given you my permission." The Kumo-nin nodded before disappearing. Naruto turned to the shell shocked face of Sakura and Sai's stoic one.

"I have done this for the good of Konoha and Sasuke himself."

"No way! How is this good for Sasuke? Huh, Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes glazed over. "Sakura, I cannot let Sasuke carry on going down this dark path he has set himself on. He has closed his eyes to the light, so I'd rather he die with honor than live as a deserter. We are too weak to allow Sasuke's actions put us at war." Sakura put her head down and cried.

"Please understand me. I am not doing this to hurt you; I am doing this to make sure that the suffering ends." Naruto placed her hand on Sakura's shoulder and nodded at Sai before teleporting back to the tower. Naruto arrived just in time to see Shizune dispelling her clones.

"Hi, Shizune-neechan. I need you to bring Danzou and Kakashi-sensei to me." Shizune huffed and walked away. Soon after that Danzou arrived followed by Kakashi being dragged by Shizune. Shizune dropped Kakashi on the ground and promptly left.

"I have summoned you two to request that you be my guards at the summit. We will be leaving today, late afternoon for Tetsu no Kuni."

"I will." Danzou said with a curt nod before departing. Naruto's gaze swept to Kakashi.

"My cute little student is growing up; I would be so glad Hokage-sama."

"Kaka-sensei, please stop goofing off." Naruto sweat dropped.

"Take care of Hokage-sama."

"We will." Kakashi waved. Shizune stepped forward and handed over the Hokage's hat to Naruto. Naruto looked up at the Hokage Mountain, to see her face already beginning to show in its side. She was slightly disheartened that Sakura was not here to see her off. She shook the feelings off before waving at her people and turning around with her haori sweeping around her.


	11. Chapter 11

Naruto walked into the large building with as much confidence as she could muster. A samurai stepped forward. "We've been waiting for you."

Naruto was led to a room which held the other four Kage. Naruto took her seat in the middle of the curved table; in front of the cloth with the kanji Hi on it. Mifune, the leader of the samurai, entered with his guards.

"Place your hats on the table. You are here because the Raikage has called this Kage summit. I will serve as the mediator." Mifune said as he took his seat. Silence reigned for some time.

"Well, since nobody is willing to say anything at this time; I guess I should go first."

"Things are changing quite quickly if one as young as you has become a Kage. I guess your father taught you well, but then again, he appears to have forgotten to instill any manners in you."

"That is the exact reason I made Kage so young."

"Tsuchikage-dono, please stop starting fights." The Mizukage reproached. The Tsuchikage smirked.

"I used to be a host, but the Akatsuki managed to capture me. I requested aid from many the other Kage many times, but only the former Hokage responded. Though, at this point with so many hosts captured, it's too late for aid."

"If a country that has lost its host, it has no business giving other countries orders. It's an embarrassment. A country should attempt to recover its host in secret." The Tsuchikage said.

"Appearance...honor...I don't have time for such old fashioned thinking." Gaara replied.

"If we had put our differences aside, the Akatsuki would not have the power of eight Bijuu backing them." Naruto finally spoke up.

"Just because the beasts have been stolen is no reason to be worried. It takes time and knowledge for one to begin to even have some level of control over them." The Mizukage spoke up.

"The hosts need to grow with the beast. Even then, control is not easy and it won't happen immediately."

Naruto spoke up. "There have only been approximately four people in history that could control the Bijuu. Foremost, the Shodaime Hokage and Uchiha Madara; the Yondaime Mizukage to some extent and Kirabi, the Raikage's brother. But..."

A crash sounded and the other Kage's guards and Kakashi with Danzou leapt out and stood alert. "Quit your yapping!" The Kage turned their heads to look at the Raikage.

"We are here to talk. Please refrain from such displays of rudeness." The guards were dismissed.

"Konoha. Iwa. Suna. Kiri. Akatsuki is made up shinobi from your villages. I also know that some Kage in the past have used Akatsuki. I called all of you here to find out where your true loyalties lie." The Raikage ranted.

"What do you mean used?" Gaara asked blankly.

"Ask your elders! Suna used Akatsuki in their war." The Raikage carried on. The Tsuchikage explained the situation to warrant the use of Akatsuki.

"I don't want to hear it Tsuchikage!"

"Hmph."

"Suna used Akatsuki to try and destroy Konoha. It's still unclear whether Orochimaru was still a part of Akatsuki at that time. Both the former Hokage and Kazekage ended up dying. I can't help but feel that it was a part of somebody else's plot." The Raikage's eyes wondered behind the Hi curtain. Naruto kept up a calm façade. The only reason she brought Danzou with her was to keep him away from Tsunade's prone body.

"Kirigakure, you are the most suspicious! There are rumors that Akatsuki started in your village." The Raikage accused.

The Mizukage seemed to contemplate something. "There were some suspicions that the Yondaime Mizukage was being controlled by somebody. It could have been Akatsuki, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

"You all...!"

"Before this delves any deeper, I have to tell you something." Everybody's eyes turned to Naruto. "The leader of Akatsuki is definitely an Uchiha who has a strong connection to Uchiha Madara." The room got quiet.

"I must say, the leader of Akatsuki read the signs of the times perfectly." Mifune interjected. "He used the suspicion of the nation to increase his own power. It is very rare for all the Kage to meet like this. How about, until the Akatsuki is dealt with, you form a shinobi alliance. The chain of command should be uniform so as to avoid further confusion."

The Tsuchikage spoke up. "So the question is; who will have authority over this new army?"

"You will only fight among yourselves. So I'd like you to respect my position as a neutral party. I will decide who will be in charge." Mifune looked around. "The only host left is Konoha's, will you let the Hokage lead?" The conference room erupted into chaos.

"She is far too young!" The Raikage's booming voice echoed.

"Then who would you suggest?"

"Me. My village has no involvement with Akatsuki. We are the most trustworthy-"

"I disagree. A leader who lets his emotion get the best of him will destroy the alliance as surely as you destroyed that table. I don't know what Akatsuki is planning, but I do know that they need the Kyuubi and the Kyuubi belongs to Konoha so it's only right they lead." Suddenly Ao, the Mizukage's guard appeared in front of them all.

"Stop, Danzou is manipulating you with a genjutsu, Mifune." Everybody turned to look at Naruto.

"I had nothing to do with this. Danzou!" Danzou appeared before Naruto.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Danzou asked complacently.

"You were controlling Mifune; I recognize Uchiha Shisui's chakra within your body. I once fought him so I know what his chakra looks like. Shisui had a powerful eye technique which could control his opponents without them realizing they were being controlled in the first place."

"Teme!" The Raikage shouted.

Mifune looked at Danzou. "What do you have to say for yourself Danzou?"

A white figure, that looked like a Venus fly trap mutant, sprouted from the ground; halting further conversation. "Helloooo." He sang.

"What does the Akatsuki want in this place?" Naruto asked.

"Uchiha Sasuke is here somewhere? Where could he possibly be?" Naruto froze as the she felt the fury come off of the Raikage at the figure's taunts.

"Let's all search for Sasuke, come on!" He said in his annoyingly cheerful voice.

"What?!" The Raikage glared at the figure. _Sasuke, you make it so hard to protect you._ Naruto sighed. She activated her sensory abilities and discovered C was also a sensor. He looked over at her with narrowed eyes. Naruto soon located Sasuke and the samurai's chakra signatures were being wiped out. She sensed Suigetsu, Karin and Juugo. Naruto was familiar with their chakra so she found it a lot faster. In this time the Raikage had caught Zetsu and broken his neck.

"C, begin." The Raikage turned around and punched the wall. "You, Kirigakure-nin," He pointed at Ao. "Watch Danzou and make sure he doesn't try anything."

"There was no need to kill him. We could have tortured him for information." The Mizukage admonished.

"Nobody in the Akatsuki talks. They are all extremely loyal." Gaara said passively.

"I'll be coming along as well." Naruto stood up.

"No, he is your charge. You are responsible for his actions."

"In all the time I trained under B, Raikage, have I ever displayed traits of deceit?" Naruto had the pleasure of seeing the Raikage squirm.

"Hmph, fine." A turned around and ran through the hole he'd created.

"Sorry about the table and wall." Darui scratched his head sheepishly.

"Darui, we don't have time for this. Let's go." C said and they left.

"Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi appeared next to her. "We'll head to Sasuke's location as back up for the Raikage." Kakashi looked concernedly at her. Naruto left her face blank. She felt Gaara's gaze on her back as she swept out, placing her hat on her head with it shadowing her eyes.

She began walking. Hearing a loud boom some distance ahead, Naruto assumed the Raikage had found Sasuke. Turning a corner she was met with the sight of Tobi at the end of the hallway.

"Yo, Naruto. I was hoping we could talk for a while." He waved. Naruto ran through some hand seals and wooden restraints exploded out of the ground and wrapped around him. Kakashi appeared behind him with a Raikiri charged up.

Tobi looked between them. "You're fast, I never expected this of you but I'm not here to fight. I have come to explain to you why Sasuke has chosen the path he walks upon." His arm phased through the restraints and pulled his mask to the side; revealing his Sharingan. Naruto activated her Sharingan and their eyes met for what appeared to be a few seconds.

"You're lying! There is no way that the Sandaime would order such a thing."

"Whether you believe me or not doesn't matter. What matters is that Sasuke now knows the truth about Itachi. Ja ne." Tobi faded away. Naruto clenched her fist before she started running. Kakashi matched her pace.

"Naruto, what did he show you?"

"That doesn't matter now sensei. We need to find Sasuke so that we can keep him away from Danzou."

"Why?" Naruto didn't respond. Naruto felt Sasuke's chakra become vile and cold. She held back the tears that stung her eyes. She steeled herself because she would have to kill Karin to avoid her finding Danzou. Naruto sensed the Raikage's chakra flare and Juugo's diminish. Naruto noticed Karin's chakra had disappeared.

Naruto arrived at a hole in the floor and jumped down; stomping down hard to separate both sides. The crater which had been there now pushed rock to the sides of the room. Naruto looked around and noticed Sasuke with an imperfect Susano'o on one side. She looked at the Raikage whose left arm was burning. Naruto activated her Sharingan and absorbed the flames before leaping over to him. She absorbed the flames from a burning samurai.

"Hokage-dono, why have you interfered?"

"You would have lost your arm and that samurai could have died." Naruto pulled the Raikage's arm. "Now hold still while I heal it."

The Raikage merely huffed at her. Naruto began healing the badly burnt arm. She turned to look at Sasuke. "I'm going to say this once, come home and we'll give you a fair trial."

"Where is home for me? I lost everybody I once cared for. Don't speak crap to me." Naruto looked away. She increased the healing of the Raikage's arm. Gaara appeared through one of the passages and blocked shots of Amaterasu fired at him using his sand.

"Subaku no Gaara." Sasuke intoned.

"Looks like we weren't needed, Temari." Kankurou looked at his sister.

"Actually, it's only you who is not needed." Temari said dismissively.

"Why you-"

Gaara decided to stop their arguments. "That's enough, you two." Gaara looked at the samurai who had Sasuke surrounded. "You samurai stand down. This is shinobi business. There is no need for any of you to be killed."

Gaara turned his gaze to Sasuke. "I would like to speak with you." Sasuke didn't respond. "You still have the same eyes. I've realized that it is useless to live your life for revenge. Don't disappear into your own world filled with hatred-you will not return."

"And if I return, what is there for me?"

Kankurou turned to Gaara. "Gaara don't bother. If he could be convinced, Naruto would not have failed."

"Besides, he joined Akatsuki; the Raikage and others who have suffered because if Akatsuki will not let him go. He attacked the summit; after this he'll be an internationally wanted criminal. He has no future." Temari interjected.

"Don't make this personal. You are the Kazekage." Kankurou finished. Sand began spooling out of Gaara's gourd as he and Naruto shed their tears. Naruto froze as she sensed Karin had found Danzou. Naruto finished healing the Raikage's arm before heading for Karin's location at top speeds. Sasuke managed to intercept her but she steeled her resolve. Naruto launched a punch at Sasuke's incomplete construct, impacting with all the strength she could muster. He flew across the room and into the wall.

Naruto appeared in front of Karin who crouched further away from her. "Forgive me." Naruto reached a hand toward Karin and touched her on the back of her neck; making her keel over.

"Naruto!" Naruto looked toward Sasuke who now had a full Susano'o, but it was still in its skeletal phase. It swung its large blade at Naruto. Acting on instinct, Naruto launched chains at it and managed to halt the swing by wrapping the chains around its arm. Susano'o started tugging, but Naruto's chains held.

Naruto ran through some hand seals, and wooden pillars grew around Sasuke. She held her palm up and Sasuke's Susano'o started melting. She had practiced this technique with Yamato. Naruto used this to suppress chakra.

Sasuke looked around panicked when he became exposed. Naruto formed the ram seal and the heads of the pillars launched themselves at Sasuke with their mouths gaping wide. Naruto observed dust rise up and when she retracted the heads, Sasuke as well as Karin were gone.

Their chakra appeared again in the Kage's room. The Kage present looked around and noticed explosive tags on the pillars.

"Take care of this, I'll get Sasuke." Naruto vanished to the marker she had left on the table; only to jump to the ceiling as lava came pouring in the area. Naruto glimpsed Danzou turn the corner down the passageway. The Mizukage kicked Sasuke through the congealing mass of molten rock. She ran down the passage with Ao, who later separated to track Danzou.

Naruto was about to open to kick a hole in the wall when she decided against it. After all, she didn't know what kind of jutsu the Mizukage used. When Naruto felt Sasuke's chakra levels go low, white spores started growing on her body. They twisted and formed a cocoon with the face of Zetsu on it. Naruto realized they were sucking her chakra out of her. Since she was still, Naruto collected Senjutsu chakra. She had the pleasure of seeing Zetsu's surprised face turn to stone.

Naruto broke free of it just as the arm of Susano'o broke through the wall. The Tsuchikage floated down before clapping his hands together in front Sasuke. He opened them and launched a cube which encased Sasuke. In a moment, all that was left was dust floating around in the air.

"Sasuke!" The scream ripped itself out of Naruto before she could stop it. She jumped down and fell to her knees before crying. The Tsuchikage turned to look at Naruto.

"You are a Kage. You must get used to making difficult decisions for the good of your village." Naruto lifted her tear streaked face before striking out. She flew past the Tsuchikage and her fist landed in the wall after phasing through Tobi.

**(Same Conversation. Too lazy to write it.)**

When Tobi disappeared, Mifune turned to Naruto. "So Hokage, what is your answer?"

"You still want me to lead?" 

"Yes."

"I can't, I don't have much experience in leading armies. Tsunade-dono should awaken before I return home."

"Very well, the Godaime Hokage shall lead with the Yondaime Raikage serving as the high commander of the army. What shall we do about the Jinchuuriki?" Everybody turned to look at Naruto.

"No," Naruto stood her ground as they continued staring at her. "I will not run. I'll fight alongside my men and besides, if I get into a sticky situation I can simply return to headquarters in less than a second." The Raikage contemplated this for a while.

"Fine, but my brother has to be sent away. He'll wreak havoc on the battlefield."

"Raikage, I completely disagree. Surely-"

"My decision is final." Naruto conceded by nodding her head. Kakashi joined Naruto's side. "We shall all head back and we will prepare our villages for the fourth great shinobi war." The leaders of the villages departed. Naruto walked out into the snow and found the day to be very calm.

"Kaka-sensei, it seems like the world is waiting."

"Yes; that it is. And when it stops waiting, Kami help us all." They ran past the samurai and headed into the nearby town. They would find a place to rest before returning home. Finally they stopped outside a gate and walked through calmly.

"Darn it." Naruto said out loud. She placed a glowing green hand on her arm. It seemed that Sasuke's Susano'o had done more damage than she had first thought. Kakashi threw a brief concerned look at her.

They stopped outside a small inn and were about to enter when Sakura, Sai and Kiba landed near her. Sakura walked with a determined expression on her face. "Naruto, I have come to tell you that we have decided to hunt Sasuke." It was as if those words were the trigger to her heart breaking. She had not realized her act had gone that far. "We cannot allow him to threaten you any-" Naruto blacked out into the blisteringly cold wintery landscape.

**I know it's short. I sort of just began losing steam for this story but beyond that you can expect longer chapters in the future.**


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